Assessing the impact of Social Networking Site use on older people's loneliness and social isolation. A randomized controlled trial: The Aging in a Networked Society-Social Experiment Study (ANS-SE)

Daniele Zaccaria; Antonio Guaita; Roberta Vaccaro; Georgia Casanova; Simona Abbondanza; Laura Pettinato; Gabriele Cerati; Elena Rolandi; Emanuela Sala

doi:10.1016/j.conctc.2020.100615

Assessing the impact of Social Networking Site use on older people's loneliness and social isolation. A randomized controlled trial: The Aging in a Networked Society-Social Experiment Study (ANS-SE)

Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2020 Jul 15:19:100615. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2020.100615. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Authors

Daniele Zaccaria¹, Antonio Guaita², Roberta Vaccaro², Georgia Casanova³, Simona Abbondanza², Laura Pettinato⁴, Gabriele Cerati², Elena Rolandi², Emanuela Sala⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care, Centre of Competence on Ageing, Manno, Switzerland.
² Golgi Cenci Foundation, Abbiategrasso, Italy.
³ IRCCS-INRCA-National Institute of Health & Science on Ageing, Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Ageing, Ancona, Italy.
⁴ University of Milan Bicocca, Department of Sociology and Social Research, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

Introduction: An ageing society poses unprecedented challenges to societies. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), including Social Networking Sites (SNSs), may contribute to contrast loneliness and social isolation in old age. Despite of the potentialities of SNSs, there is only a handful of studies assessing the causal relationship of SNS use and older people's well-being. This paper aims to provide further evidence on the design of randomised controlled trials exploring the causal impact of SNS use on loneliness and social isolation in old age.

Methods and analysis: The Aging in a Networked Society-Social Experiment Study (ANS-SE) is a randomised controlled trial conducted on people aged 75 and over residing in a town located in the Milan area (Italy) aiming to assess the impact of SNS use on loneliness and social isolation (i.e. the primary outcomes of this study). The study is constituted of two stages, i.e. the baseline and the follow up. The experiment is structured into one treatment group and two control groups; the interventions are the attendance to a course on SNS use (T1) and lifestyle education and brain functioning (C1). The inactive control group (C) is constituted of a waiting list. We will perform bivariate and regression analysis.

Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the Ethic Committee of the University of Milano Bicocca (prot. 431/2019) and was registered at Clinical Trials.gov (NCT04242628). Written consent was obtained from all respondents. Results from the study will be discussed with the local community and stakeholders, presented in national and international conferences and published in leading peer-review journals. The consent forms, the anonymised dataset, and the relevant statistical codes will be deposited with the Italian Unidata archive, also in charge of releasing the data to the public, upon a short embargo period.

Keywords: Loneliness; Older people; Social Networking Sites use; Social isolation.