Publications by authors named "Sergi Blancafort-Alias"

Background: Loneliness is related to worse mental health, particularly in people with poor social support. The COVID-19 pandemic altered our lives and ways of social interaction, especially among vulnerable populations such as older adults.

Methods: We designed a group-based psychosocial online intervention for older adults (≥ 65 years) facilitated by gerontologists addressing loneliness consisting of: (i) sharing experiences and promoting peer support to overcome feelings of loneliness and (ii) increasing the chances of establishing successful social relationships.

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Background: Loneliness, a major public health concern, could be alleviated through social interventions with nature contact as a primary component. "Friends in Nature" is a complex nature-based social intervention designed to be implemented as part of "Reimagining Environments for Connection and Engagement: Testing Actions for Social Prescribing in Natural Spaces" (RECETAS). This project aims to alleviate loneliness and promote health-related quality of life in six different geographic areas worldwide.

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Introduction: Programmes for older people aimed at increasing physical activity (PA) and reducing sedentary behaviour (SB) traditionally focus on achieving functional and health improvements. Focusing on enjoyment and social inclusion could strengthen adherence and help reach older people with social disadvantages. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Join4Joy approach in PA programmes and its assessment tools.

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Background: The negative effects of loneliness on population health and wellbeing requires interventions that transcend the medical system and leverage social, cultural, and public health system resources. Group-based social interventions are a potential method to alleviate loneliness. Moreover, nature, as part of our social and health infrastructure, may be an important part of the solutions that are needed to address loneliness.

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Introduction: Decline in muscle mass and bone density seem to be two of the most disabling side effects of menopause that negatively affect women's quality of life. Promoting physical activity protocols in the workplace can represent a focal point in the prevention and management of several diseases. The study aims to evaluate the compliance and drop-out of menopausal osteopenic women engaged in combined training performed inside and outside the workplace.

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Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) strategy to face the challenges of ageing societies. This strategy is focused on person centered care and the assessment intrinsic capacity (IC). Early identification of five domains of IC (cognition, locomotion, vitality, sensory (hearing and vision), and psychological) has been shown to be related with adverse outcomes and can guide actions towards primary prevention and healthy ageing.

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Purpose: To explore quality of life related with intermediate vision of patients before and after cataract surgery, and to make patients' experience available for the design of future scales that assess visual function related with intermediate distance.

Patients And Methods: A qualitative research methodology based on thematic content analysis was used to explore vision-related quality of life based on the experiences of patients with cataract. Patients were recruited at the Service of Ophthalmology of the Hospital de Sant Pau (Barcelona, Spain).

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This study explores the psychological impacts of lockdown among older people during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Spain, and identifies risk profiles and adaptative behaviors. A cross-sectional online survey was disseminated by social networks through snowball sampling (April-June 2020). The survey included ad-hoc questions about psychological impacts on subjective cognitive functioning, emotional distress, and loneliness.

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The World Health Organization has developed the Integrated Care of Older People (ICOPE) strategy, a program based on the measurement of intrinsic capacity (IC) as "the composite of all physical and mental attributes on which an individual can draw". Multicomponent interventions appear to be the most effective approach to enhance IC and to prevent frailty and disability since adapted physical activity is the preventive intervention that has shown the most evidence in the treatment of frailty and risk of falls. Our paper describes the development of a multi-domain group-based intervention addressed to older people living in the community, aimed at improving and/or maintaining intrinsic capacity by means of promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, and psychological wellbeing in older people.

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Background: Evidence is scarce on how to promote health and decrease cumulative inequalities for disadvantaged older people. Downstream complex interventions focusing on intermediate factors (self-management, health literacy and social capital) may have the potential to mitigate the inequitable impacts of social determinants in health. The aim of the AEQUALIS study was to assess the effectiveness of a group-based intervention to improve self-perceived health as indicator of health inequality.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sedentary behavior (SB) is linked to negative health outcomes across various age groups, prompting the need for effective interventions that target this issue.
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis assessed 77 adult studies and 84 children studies, revealing that while adults showed non-significant reductions in SB compared to active controls, significant reductions were seen when compared to inactive controls; in children, relevant reductions in daily sedentary time were observed in both short-term and medium-to-long-term interventions against inactive controls.
  • The study indicates that while complexity in interventions may be necessary to tackle SB effectively, a higher complexity does not guarantee sustained long-term behavioral changes.
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Article Synopsis
  • SITLESS is a randomized controlled trial aimed at improving exercise referral programs for older adults by adding self-management strategies to reduce sedentary behavior and promote long-term physical activity.
  • The study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the implementation and impact of the intervention, including surveys, observations, and interviews with participants and trainers.
  • Ethical approval has been granted, and participants will provide informed consent before joining the study, ensuring that findings will be responsibly shared after the research is completed.
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