CClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT02047435Updated May 23, 2014

Integrating Lonely Elderly Patients in Workshops in a Cartoon Museum: An Efficacy Study

An interventional study of Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum and Information and event at a cartoon museum in Quality of Life, Social Isolation and Loneliness, sponsored by Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen. Status unknown at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 65 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2014-05-23.

Sponsored by Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Jan 2014), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
50
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
65 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Social relationships are important to people and it affects their quality of life, morbidity and mortality.

This is a randomised controlled trial studying the effect of including older people with impaired social relationships and a perception of loneliness at workshops, at The Storm P. Museum - a museum about the well known Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

The hypothesis is, that by including older lonely people with a impaired social participation in these workshops, they will increase the participants health related quality of life. The investigators also hypothesis, that the intervention will improve the participants perception of loneliness, social participation and physical function.

The intervention consist of a series of workshops at the Storm P. Museum. At these workshops the participants will create memory material for nursing home residents with dementia. The museum staff will facilitate a process of storytelling, using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P. and encourage the participants, by means of the "narrative interview" method to share similar stories from their life.

Read the detailed description

Background:

Social relations are important to people and it affects their quality of life, morbidity and mortality. This is especially true among older people and social relations are also important for the management of chronic diseases. Those with strong social relations are less sick, and recover faster if they become sick. There is also a connection between social relations and death, as people with many social relations are more likely to live longer than people with few social relations. In Denmark it is assumed that poor social relationships causes between 1000-1500 deaths per year, equivalent to about 2% of all deaths.

This is a randomised controlled trial studying the effect of including older people with poor social relationships and a perception of loneliness at workshops, at The Storm P. Museum - a museum about the well known Danish cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen.

Hypothesis:

The hypothesis is, that by including older lonely people with a poor social participation in these workshops, they will increase the participants health related quality of life. The investigators also hypothesis, that the intervention will improve the participants perception of loneliness, social participation and physical function as well as mortality and nursing home placement at long term.

The intervention:

Both the intervention and the comparison group will be invited to an event at the Storm P. Museum.

This event consist of

  • A guided tour of the collection with a presentation on Storm P. 's life and artistic work.
  • A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will subsequently tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly.
  • The museum will serve a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

In addition the intervention group will be invited to participate in a series of workshops at the Storm P. Museum with scheduled meetings twice a month. In collaboration with the museum, participants at these workshops will create memory material for nursing home residents with dementia.

The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant. Storytelling is central in creating a cognitive, meaningful and holistic life. In our dialogues we create a mutual understanding. Stories are central to people and is used in making sense in transitions and essential decisions in your life.

The museum facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., and encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life. This will not only benefit the participants, but also act as crucial empirical data collected via journal keeping for this project.

The intervention is planned to last for up to 12 months and outcome measures are collected at baseline, 9 months and at 18 months.

02

Conditions studied

  • Quality of Life
  • Social Isolation
  • Loneliness

Keywords

  • Social participation
  • Loneliness
  • General practice
  • Cultural institutions
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
65 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Patients consulting their general practitioner in the municipality of Frederiksberg during february/Marts 2014. Who in a questionnaire have a low score of social participation and answers they often feel lonely.

The participants are allocated to the study consecutively.

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Age: 65 years or older, Consultation at the general practice during the project period, Impaired social participation and often/occasionally perceive loneliness, Provided written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

Do not talk or understand Danish, Terminal ill, Physically not able to participate, Low score on cognitive test (OMC test)

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
50 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

    Behavioral: Information, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

  • Active comparator
    Information and event at a cartoon museum

    Behavioral: Information and event at a cartoon museum

Interventions

  • BehavioralInformation, event and workshops at a cartoon museum

    1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of: * A guided tour at the museum * A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly. * The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum. And 2. Workshops at The Storm P. museum, for up to 12 months with approximately two workshops a months. In collaboration with the museum the participants create memory material for nursing home resident with dementia. The workshop will use narrative as a method to give participants a mutual relationship that is perceived as meaningful and rewarding for each participant and in the dialogues a mutual understanding is created. The museum staff facilitates the process of storytelling using events, significant stories and artistic works by Storm P., to encourage the participants, via the method known as "narrative interview", to share similar stories from their life.

  • BehavioralInformation and event at a cartoon museum

    1. An event at the Storm P. Museum consisting of: * A guided tour at the museum * A representative from the municipal DaneAge Association will tell about the municipality's activities for the elderly. * The museum serves a refreshment and offer participants a season pass to the museum.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Difference from baseline in summary Index of EuroQol -5D

    Health related quality of life measured by EuroQol -5D

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Score of MMSE test

    Score of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE).

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months, 18 months

  2. Score of GDS-15 items

    Score of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)

    Time frame: baseline, 9 months and 18 months

  3. "Timed up and go" test

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

  4. Consultation at general practice and hospital admission

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

  5. Score on Mobility-Tiredness scale

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

  6. Score on social participation scale

    Based on three items. The analysis is made on the individual items as well as the total score

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

  7. Loneliness

    Based on an item with four categories.

    Time frame: Baseline, 9 months and 18 months

Other outcomes

  1. All cause mortality

    A long term follow up analysis.

    Time frame: 36 month

  2. Permanent nursing home placement

    Long term follow up analysis

    Time frame: 36 month

  3. Health economic analysis

    Time frame: 36 month

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Research Unit of General Practice Copenhagen
    Copenhagen, Denmark
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 23, 2014, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02047435
Lead sponsor
Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen
Collaborators
The Storm P. Museum, University College Absalon, EGV Foundation, Danish Agency for Culture
Responsible party
Frans Boch Waldorff (PhD, Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 28, 2014
Start date
Feb 2014
Primary completion
Aug 2015 (estimated)
Last update
May 23, 2014

Study contacts

Frans B Waldorff, PhD
Contact
fransw@sund.ku.dk
+ 45 35327129
Tina D Due, PhD student
Contact
tina.due@sund.ku.dk
+ 45 35327167
Frans B Waldorff, PhD
principal investigator · Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen
Tina D Due, PhD student
principal investigator · Research Unit Of General Practice, Copenhagen

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Jan 2014. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion