Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Intellectual Disabilities
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1387192
This article is part of the Research Topic The Potential of a Multifactorial Perspective on Dementia View all 7 articles

Instruments for Assessing Social Health in the Context of Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Janissa Altona Janissa Altona 1*Henrik Wiegelmann Henrik Wiegelmann 1Marta Lenart-Bulga Marta Lenart-Bulga 2Myrra Vernooij-Dassen Myrra Vernooij-Dassen 3Eline Verspoor Eline Verspoor 3Imke Seifert Imke Seifert 1Julia Misonow Julia Misonow 1Dorota Szcześniak Dorota Szcześniak 2Joanna Rymaszewska Joanna Rymaszewska 4Rabih Chattat Rabih Chattat 5Yun-Hee Jeon Yun-Hee Jeon 6Esme Moniz-Cook Esme Moniz-Cook 7Martina Roes Martina Roes 8Marieke Perry Marieke Perry 3Karin Wolf-Ostermann Karin Wolf-Ostermann 1
  • 1 University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 2 Wroclaw Medical University, Wrocław, Silesian, Poland
  • 3 Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands
  • 4 Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wrocław, Silesian, Poland
  • 5 University of Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
  • 6 The University of Sydney, Darlington, New South Wales, Australia
  • 7 University of Hull, Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber, United Kingdom
  • 8 Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The concept of social health has received increasing attention in dementia research recently. Various notions of what social health is and how it can be measured are circulating. They may lead to challenges in comparing results and interpreting these for the development of interventions. This systematic review aims to classify existing instruments that measure various domains of social health. To achieve this, we applied a new multidimensional framework consisting of six key domains of social health. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. PubMed/MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and CINAHL were searched online, covering published studies between January 2000 and July 2023. A total of 227 studies (longitudinal, case-control, and cross-sectional cohort studies) with 102 single instruments were included. Search terms were 1) dementia (i.e., Alzheimer’s, cognitive impairment); 2) social health markers (i.e., decision-making, social participation, loneliness), and 3) instruments (i.e., tools, measures). The instruments are mainly self-reported, and the number of items ranges from 3-126. Despite the wide array of instruments available, most focus on individual domains of social health. We recommend the development of more conceptually robust instruments that can comprehensively evaluate psychosocial interventions and adequately capture all domains of social health.

    Keywords: Social health, social factors, Dementia, cognitive decline, measures Schriftart: Nicht Fett Schriftart: (Standard) Times New Roman, 12 Pt., Nicht Fett, Schriftfarbe: Automatisch Gelöscht: Social connections

    Received: 16 Feb 2024; Accepted: 16 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Altona, Wiegelmann, Lenart-Bulga, Vernooij-Dassen, Verspoor, Seifert, Misonow, Szcześniak, Rymaszewska, Chattat, Jeon, Moniz-Cook, Roes, Perry and Wolf-Ostermann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Janissa Altona, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.