Social Engagement, Cognition, Depression, and Comorbidity in Nursing Home Residents With Sensory Impairment.
Darina V Petrovsky, Justine S Sefcik, Alexandra L Hanlon and 2 others
PMID 31283831WHAT IT FOUND
Sensory impairment alone was not associated with social engagement in 213 nursing home residents once co-morbidity was considered.
Higher depression and poorer cognition were linked to lower engagement, while higher co-morbidity was linked to higher engagement.
Key findings
01After adjustment for co-morbidity, sensory impairment was not independently associated with social engagement, and it remained non-significant in the full model.
02Depression and cognition were independently associated with social engagement after adjustment for co-morbidity, with each unit increase in depression score associated with a 0.16 decrease in social engagement and each unit increase in cognition score associated with a 0.09 increase.
03In the final model, depression, cognition and co-morbidity were significant predictors, with each unit increase in depression associated with a 0.17 decrease in social engagement, each unit increase in cognition with a 0.11 increase, and each unit increase in co-morbidity with a 0.11 increase.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis used baseline data only, so it cannot show that any intervention changed social engagement. The sample was mostly female and white, and the authors say the findings need replication in larger and more ethnically diverse samples. The social engagement scale did not measure how often residents took part in activities, and some items may not apply to nursing home residents. The analysis did not adjust for other possible confounders such as pain. The analysis included fewer participants than were enrolled in the parent study because some residents no longer met sensory impairment criteria at baseline or had missing data.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The paper is tagged as NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that correcting vision or hearing will improve social engagement. This was a baseline association analysis, not a test of the intervention, and sensory impairment was not independently associated with social engagement after adjustment.