Development and psychometric testing of the register – connectedness scale for older adults

Abstract

Connectedness, maintaining active engagement with life, is crucial to successful aging. Yet, no instruments were found to measure connectedness. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a connectedness scale for older adults. A 72-item instrument was administered to 428 community-dwelling older adults. The sample was largely female, White widows/widowers, with a mean age of 76 (SD 6.95) years. The instrument was reduced to 45 items representing five factors with loadings ranging from .40 to .86. The factor labels and their reliability estimates were: (a) self-regulating (.86), (b) facing aging (.85), (c) being part of a family (.87), (d) having friends (.87), and (e) being spiritual (.88). This promising instrument may advance the science of successful aging.

Exploration of the meaning of connectedness for older people in long‐term care in context of their quality of life: a review and commentary

“…Papers which did not match the inclusion criterion were excluded. The work of Register (Register & Herman, 2010;Register & Scharer, 2010;Register et al, 2011) was central to structuring the meaning of connectedness for older people in longterm care settings.…”

“…In context of older people, credit must be given to Elizabeth Register, whose work on connectedness and older people has succeeded in placing this topic in the spotlight. Register's recent work (Register & Herman, ; Register & Scharer, ; Register et al ., ) has contributed significantly to clarifying the meaning of this concept for older people.…”

“…In context of older people, credit must be given to Elizabeth Register, whose work on connectedness and older people has succeeded in placing this topic in the spotlight. Register's recent work (Register & Herman, 2010;Register & Scharer, 2010;Register et al, 2011) has contributed significantly to clarifying the meaning of this concept for older people. Register and Herman (2010, p. 58) propose that connectedness is "the ultimate expression of human existence that comes from within and determines how people engage in the world".…”

“…Anxiety is often the first feeling experienced in the short term; however, if social disengagement or social exclusion persists, depression and a decline in mental health have been reported (Baumeister & Leary, 1995;Buckley & McCarthy, 2009). Nurses have a role to play in making it Table 1 The six connections (Register & Scharer, 2010;Register et al, 2011) Breheny and Stephens (2009) easier for residents to connect. However, the opportunity to experience belonging and connectedness is to a large degree dependent on the person's having the self-awareness, motivation and skills to foster connections.…”

Productive engagement in older adults: A concept analysis

“…Based on a sociological view, productive engagement refers to the capacity of an individual to serve in the paid workforce, volunteer activities, assisting the family, and maintaining oneself as independently as possible (Butler & Schechter, 1995). In addition, a nursing perspective defines the term productive engagement as social engagement or connectedness, which is reflected as being in active engagement with life, such as self-regulating, facing ageing, being part of a family, having friends, and being spiritual (Register & Herman, 2010;Register & Scharer, 2010;Register et al, 2011).…”