Table 1.

Baseline variables to assess inclusion/exclusion criteria and characterize the sample and modifications due to COVID-19.

Construct	Measure Name and Citation	Description & Psychometric Data	COVID modification
Demographics	Age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, employment status, living alone, income, volunteering history	Demographic characteristics to characterize the sample, many of which are associated with loneliness in later life.	No change
Loneliness (inclusion)	3-item UCLA Loneliness Short Form [57]	A score of 6 or above has been shown to predict mortality [6,57] and is required for inclusion.	No change
Cognitive impairment	Six item cognitive screener [58]	Two or more errors on phone screen indicate exclusion.	No change
Cognitive impairment	Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) [59]	Scores less than 22 (consistent with mild dementia) indicate exclusion.	Once remote administration was initiated, we removed the executive functioning items and administered the MoCA Blind version [60] for ease of remote administration, with subjects scoring less than 15 excluded
Alcohol misuse	The CAGE Questionnaire [61]	A score of 2 or above indicates exclusion.	No change
Psychosis	Psychosis in past month	Self-report of hallucinations and/or paranoid delusions in the past month.	No change
Transportation	Able to supply their own transportation or have alternate transportation services, including the city bus or services such as Liftline	Prior to COVID precautions, this was an RSVP and Lifespan requirement for volunteering.	This requirement was lifted due to expansion of remote volunteering opportunities that could be completed in the home.
Communication	Able to speak English and hear well-enough to speak on the phone.	These are required to participate as a volunteer.	No change
Volunteering	Currently serving as an RSVP volunteer	Exclusion criterion if a potential subject is already engaging in the study intervention.	No change
Social network	Lubben Social Network Scale [62]	Social network size and frequency of contact, designed for older adults and shown to be associated with premature mortality.	No change
Minority stress	Sexual Orientation Concealment Scale (SOCS) [63]	Questions designed to assess lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individual's active concealment of their sexual minority status; subjects who endorse LGB at baseline complete this form regarding their experiences in general as well as at follow-up if assigned to volunteering (regarding concealment during their volunteer activities). Baseline for those who answered as LGB on demographic form.	No change