The Impact of Video-Communication on Older Adults' Psychological Well-Being: A Mixed Methods Study

Greater life expectancy has resulted in older adults becoming more vulnerable to social isolation, with increasing numbers of British older adults reporting loneliness in recent years. This trend is of concern as it has been documented that feeling a connection to others is a fundamental need for psychological well-being. It is therefore important to support older adults to maintain connections with others, in order to help increase, and prevent deterioration of, their well-being. The social presence theory asserts that visual presence during conversations can enhance the quality of communications between individuals and thus strengthen relationships. The use of video-communication by older adults may therefore lend itself as a tool to enhance communications with others and consequently increase their psychological well-being. This research utilised a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design to explore the impact of video-communication on the psychological well-being of older adults. Participants in the intervention condition received video-communication training sessions to help them communicate with their friends or relatives remotely via video. Participants in the control conditions received either email or basic computer skills training. Self-report measures were used to investigate the effectiveness of the video-communication in enhancing psychological well-being. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the participants in the intervention condition in order to capture the participants’ experiences with using the video-communication and to corroborate the quantitative data. The quantitative data was subjected to statistical and clinically significant change tests, while the qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. Triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the video-communication increased some older adults’ psychological well-being and the social support they received. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research. The clinical implications of the findings and directions for future research are also discussed.