Table 7.

Design, methods, and findings related to social participation reported from included mixed methods studies.

Authors (Year), Country	Experimental Intervention	Setting	Participants ( $\mathit{n}=$ Sample Size)	Outcomes Related to Social Participation	Quantitative Outcome Measures Related to Social Participation	Qualitative Data Collection Methods	Findings Related to Social Participation
Hind et al. (2014) [51], UK	One-on-one telephone friendship (TF) vs. usual care control: (1) 10 to 20 min calls delivered by volunteer facilitators for six weeks (1×/week), followed by (2) 1 h TF groups for 12 weeks (1×/week)	Home-based	Older adults without cognitive impairments $\left(n=157\right)$	Loneliness (pretest, 6 months follow-up post randomization)	De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale	Semi-structured interviews	Loneliness: no statistically significant improvement. Interviews: participant reported a lack of face-to-face contact and a dissatisfaction with group cohesion.
Ware et al. (2017) [77], France	Language training program: 2 h sessions of an English language training delivered by a native English-speaking psychologist using a tablet-based multimedia approach for 4 months (1×/week)	Laboratory of a hospital	Older adults without cognitive impairments $\left(n=14\right)$	Loneliness (pretest, posttest)	UCLA Loneliness Scale, and semi-structured interviews	Semi-structured interviews	Loneliness: no statistically significant improvement. Interviews: participants reported that they did not build strong social ties with other group participants.
Lee and Kim (2018) [70], USA	Intergenerational Mentor-Up (IMU) class: six 1 h one-on-one technology tutorial sessions delivered by college students (partly in groups)	Senior centers and housing facilities	Older adults without cognitive impairments $\left(n=59\right)$	Social isolation (pretest, posttest)	Perceived social isolation measure (loneliness and social support) and self-reported life stressors checklist	Interviews and researchers’ field notes	Total social isolation significantly decreased $(t=3.84, p<0.001,d=0.74)$, with no significant change in lack of social support and a statistically significant decrease in loneliness $(t=7.53, p<0.001,d=1.45)$.
Mullins et al. (2020) [72], USA	Internet Information Station program: three different computer classes delivered by students	Four apartment buildings of a Housing and Urban Development community	Older adults participating in program $\left(n=262\right)$ Older adults filling in the R-UCLA Loneliness Scale $\left(n=11\right)$	Loneliness (pretest, posttest at 4–6 weeks after the program)	R-UCLA Loneliness Scale	Ethnographic interviews and observations	Participants reported enhanced social connectedness. Observed increase in participation in the common areas of the Housing and Urban Development community. Decrease in loneliness of the technology class group (vs. baseline group): significant change $\left(p=0.023\right)$ on the item “There is no one I can turn to”.
Engelbrecht a nd Shoemark (2015) [50], Australia	Activity-based musical engagement using iPads vs. Traditional Music Instruments (TMI): 1 h sessions of activity-based musical engagement in groups delivered by a therapist for 5 weeks (1×/week)	Not mentioned	Older adults without cognitive impairments $\left(n=6\right)$	Social isolation (pretest, posttest)	Friendship scale	Journal entries, researcher’s field notes, and session reflections	No significant differences in social isolation (1) between the iPad and the TMI group and (2) within the groups (pre- vs. posttest). Reported benefits for both groups: enhanced positive self-concepts and developed social cohesion and group identity.
Zaine et al. (2019) [79], UK and Brazil	Human-facilitated social networking system “Media Parcels”: use of the tablet-based system facilitated by a clinical psychologist for two weeks with family members (trial 1) or friends (trial 2)	Home-based	Older adults $\left(n=2\right)$, family members $\left(n=2\right)$, and older adult friends $\left(n=2\right)$	Feelings of social connection (pretest, week 1, posttest)	Self-developed Relationship Semantic Differential Scale (RSDS)	Interviews	Participants reported contacting each other more often and feeling closer to each other.
Arthanat, Vroman, and Lysack (2016) [58], USA	iPad training program: individualized one-on-one training sessions delivered by a coach (occupational therapy student) for 3 months (1×/month), then iPad use without assistance for 3 months	Home-based	Older adults without cognitive impairments $\left(n=13\right)$	Breadth and frequency of technology use related to social connections (pretest, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, posttest)	Self-developed questionnaire 1	Field observations, self-developed end-of-study questionnaire, and focus groups	Modest (not significant) increase in activities involving social connections. Participants identified benefits and challenges of the program related to technology experiences, interactions with the coach, the training approach, and specific activities.
Mellor, Firth, and Moore (2008) [53], Australia	Providing internet access: use of computer/Internet for 12 months (with support on a daily basis for the first two weeks)	Retirement villages	Older adults $\left(n=20\right)$	Social connectedness (pretest, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, posttest)	Social Connectedness Scale	Semi-structured interviews	At 12 months: no significant differences in social connectedness. Benefits reported in interviews: positive impact on social connectedness.
Ring et al. (2015) [54], USA	ECA 2 motion sensor vs. non-sensor condition: interact with the ECA on a touchscreen computer (1×/day) for 1 week	Home-based	Older adults $\left(n=14\right)$	Loneliness (pretest, posttest)	UCLA Loneliness Scale	Diary entries and semi-structured interviews	Significant lower loneliness in intervention group vs. comparison group when interacting with the ECA $(F\left(1,150\right)=7.713, p<0.01)$. This indicates that the ECA is more effective in reducing loneliness when using a motion sensor to actively initiate social interactions with older adults.
Emas et al. (2018) [64], USA	iPad/iPhone training program: 1 h multimodal training sessions in groups 1×/week for 7 weeks	Home-based combined with training sessions at a gated retirement community	Older adults $\left(n=25\right)$	Participants’ skill ability (PSA); participants’ confidence level (PCL) (pretest, posttest)	Self-developed scales measuring PSA and PCL	Journaling prompts	Statistically significant increase in PSA of defining several Internet acronyms and statistically significant increase in PCL using FaceTime $\left(t\left(16\right)=6.85, p=0.00\right)$, and taking photos $\left(t\left(16\right)=4.26, p=0.0001\right)$. Facilitation of social participation: participants reported to have gained skills and knowledge in communicating with loved ones using concepts such as FaceTime, texts, e-mails, and phone calls.

¹ Only two of the four categories of ICT activities were relevant: family connections and social connections. ² ECA = embodied conversational agent.