Social Participation Types and Benefits on Health Outcomes for Elder People: a Systematic Review

Abstract

The Purpose of this systematic review was to examine patterns of social participation and their benefits on health outcomes of elder people. Published articles written in English from 2006 to 2016 were searched from electronic databases, including PubMed. Science Direct, and CINAHL, as well as hand search for unpublished papers. The results showed that 6 papers met the inclusion criteria. The social participation patterns in elder people could be categorized into 2 patterns, including: (1) collective participation, (2) productive participation. Both social participation patterns could improve psychosocial issues of elder people. Therefore, the authors suggested that to succeed in promoting healthy ageing for these people, health care providers should encourage older people to engage in social activities. However, more rigorous research is also needed to confirm the correlation between social participation types and health benefits among these older people.