Table 1.
Socio-demographic and health characteristics intervention and control group at baseline
|
Intervention |
Control |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 440) a | (n = 418) a | ||
|
Age (%) |
65–75 years |
61 |
59 |
|
75+ years |
39 |
41 |
|
|
Mean (sd) age (years) |
73.6 (5.9) |
73.8 (6.4) |
|
|
Gender (%) |
Male |
44 |
47 |
|
Marital status (%) |
Married/living together |
71 |
69 |
|
Never married/never lived together |
3 |
2 |
|
|
Divorced/separated |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Widowed |
23 |
25 |
|
|
Education (%) |
Illiterate/primary education |
18 |
18 |
|
Low |
51 |
45 |
|
|
Intermediate |
14 |
16 |
|
|
High |
18 |
22 |
|
|
Difficulties managing on income (%) |
12 |
10 |
|
|
One or more chronic diseases (%) |
73 |
79 |
|
|
Mentally unhealthy (%) |
14* |
8* |
|
|
Self-perceived health poor (%) |
22 |
18 |
|
|
Difficulty BADL
b
(%) |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Difficulty MADL
b
(%) |
17 |
16 |
|
|
Difficulty IADL
b
(%) |
33 |
34 |
|
|
Loneliness (%) |
Not lonely (0-2) |
51 |
55 |
|
Mildly lonely (3-8) |
41 |
39 |
|
|
Severely lonely (9-10) |
7 |
5 |
|
|
Very severely lonely (11) |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Mean (sd) score loneliness |
3.18 (3.13) |
2.89 (2.89) |
|
|
Social support |
Total social support-Mean (sd) |
28.31 (6.09) |
28.62 (5.73) |
|
Everyday social support |
10.37 (2.10) |
10.32 (1.86) |
|
|
Support in problem situations |
8.74 (2.54) |
8.79 (2.45) |
|
|
Esteem support |
9.21 (2.38) |
9.50 (2.29) |
|
|
Doing voluntary work frequently (%) |
16 |
21 |
|
| Church attendance (%) | 43* | 60* | |
*Significant difference between intervention and control group (Chi-square or t-test; p < 0.05).
aPercentages exceed 100% due to rounding off; for individual variables 0.2 to 4% of data may be missing.
bDifficulties in activities of daily living (ADL) are hierarchical; persons with difficulties in BADL are likely to be also included in MADL and IADL.