TARGETING HEALTH AND FUNCTIONING BARRIERS TO SOCIAL CONNECTION TO REDUCE SUICIDE RISK - Innovation in Aging Vol. 9 - No. S2 - Abstract

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Grenda

Changes in health and functioning can limit older adults’ social engagement, and social disconnection is linked to later-life suicide ideation, attempts, and deaths. It remains unclear whether increasing social connection can prevent suicide because prior work has not directly tested the mechanism. This presentation reports findings from a clinical trial using a brief behavioral intervention to raise social engagement in older adults experiencing clinically significant loneliness, assessing suicide ideation severity via EMA at baseline and three-month follow-up.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Trial overview

Participants and intervention

Measures and timeline

Suicide ideation results

Implications for late-life prevention

FAQs

What problem does the study address about older adults?

Health and functioning changes can create barriers to social engagement for older adults. Social disconnection, including isolation and loneliness, is associated with suicide ideation, attempts, and deaths in later life.

How does the intervention aim to reduce suicide risk?

The trial tests a brief behavioral intervention designed to increase social engagement among older adults with clinically significant loneliness, including one-on-one social engagement coaching.

What were the main findings on suicide ideation severity?

Using EMA with the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale (Screening Version), suicide ideation severity decreased from 6.71 (SD 1.71) at baseline to 6.40 (SD 2.13) at follow-up (p=0.001), indicating reliable reductions after 10 coaching sessions.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Grenda