Benefits of a psychosocial intervention programme using volunteers for the prevention of loneliness among older women living alone in Spain.

This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention programme in preventing loneliness and increasing self-efficacy and social participation among older women living alone in Spain. A sequential, nested experimental design was used, with a primary quantitative quasi-experimental pre-post study with a control group (CG) and a secondary qualitative study. A total of 48 women participated, and 34 of them (the experimental group, EG) received a 25-hour psychosocial support intervention delivered by volunteers who focused on three aspects: conversation, attribution retraining and behavioural activation.

[Normative data of the abbreviated-revised Barcelona test for cognitively active elderly people].

Introduction: Neuropsychological assessment is mandatory in order to identify cognitive changes that occur during either normal or pathological aging. However, normative data adapted to the characteristics of the population are needed in order to reduce the probability of false diagnoses of cognitive impairment. The aim of the present work was to compute normative data for cognitively active elderly people attending a University course for the elderly.