Virtual Life Story Club Intervention to Improve Loneliness and Apathy in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Feasibility Study

Abstract

Background: Reminiscence therapy is a noninvasive, nonpharmacological intervention that has been shown to improve cognition, mood, functional status, quality of life, and apathy in older adults. Group reminiscence therapy combines structured social engagement and recounting of personal stories that address both social connection (a risk factor for cognitive decline) and cognition. Life Story Club is an established, nonprofit organization that provides virtual group reminiscence therapy for older adults to reduce loneliness and promote a sense of belonging and has not been formally studied.

Objective: This study aims to explore the feasibility of a Life Story Club intervention to improve loneliness and apathy in community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: A prospective, single-arm, single-center, pilot study will be conducted to compare loneliness and apathy in 50 lonely individuals without dementia at baseline who receive a virtual group reminiscence therapy intervention. The intervention will be delivered weekly over 12 weeks. Loneliness will be assessed with the UCLA Loneliness Scale and apathy will be assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale before and after the intervention. Feasibility will be assessed using quantitative and qualitative measures including feasibility of screening and enrollment, acceptability, and program satisfaction. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with a subset of 30 individuals to explore acceptability, barriers, and facilitators of the intervention.

Results: The proposed study is funded by a pilot grant from the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Recruitment and data collection are planned for July 2025.

Conclusions: This study will provide evidence for the feasibility of virtual group reminiscence therapy for community-dwelling older adults to reduce loneliness and apathy. Our approach is both innovative and pragmatic because we will leverage an existing community-based service, with an established infrastructure and track record within the community to deliver the intervention. As such, the proposed research has the potential for broad implications for community-based research and aligns with multiple translational science principles.

International registered report identifier (irrid): PRR1-10.2196/70518.

Keywords: apathy; cognition; community-dwelling; loneliness; reminiscence therapy.

Figure 1

Conceptual model of a reminiscence therapy intervention for loneliness and apathy and mechanisms for how the intervention may work. The left side of the figure represents the current proposal where we propose to investigate the feasibility of reminiscence therapy for loneliness and apathy. This research will inform and support a future randomized controlled trial of a reminiscence therapy intervention to improve cognition.