ReviewJournal of medical Internet research2025
Ecological Momentary Assessment to Measure Social Connectedness in Older Adults: Integrative Review.
Review in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Compliance With Ecological Momentary Assessment Among Patients With Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- The Effects of Open-World and Fun, Accessible Games on Perceived Loneliness and Stoicism in Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe importance of social connectedness as a determinant of health and well-being in older adults is well-established. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) shows promise for real-time measurement of social interactions, making it worthwhile to investigate its feasibility and the challenges of applying it to older adults.
objectiveThis integrative review aimed to (1) summarize and integrate the implementation of EMA in assessing older adults' social connectedness, and (2) discuss the EMA method and its use to assess the concept of social connectedness in order to guide future research.
methodsA total of 5 databases-PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycINFO-were searched for studies published up to March 2025. We included studies that (1) targeted adults aged 60 years or older, (2) used EMA to assess social connectedness, and (3) were published in a peer-reviewed journal. Studies using third-party reports to obtain EMA data and studies focusing on marital dyads were excluded. The analysis identified multifactorial constructs of social connectedness (structural, functional, and quality) and assessed EMA protocols and compliance or adherence to EMA.
resultsOf the 18,886 studies identified, 43 were selected for final analysis. Social connectedness assessed via EMA mostly focused on the structural dimension, capturing whether an individual had social contact at a given moment (38/43, 88%). Among functional dimension (17/43, 40%), loneliness was the most measured construct, and the quality dimension (16/43, 37%) included quality of social interaction, pleasantness of encounters, and interpersonal tensions. In total, 2 studies addressed all 3 dimensions of social connectedness. In addition, to provide context for understanding social connectedness, assessments considered location at the time of assessment, type of activity, and physical (eg, pain and fatigue) and psychological states (eg, positive or negative mood). Data were mostly collected using an app on digital devices (eg, smartphone), and assessments were conducted 1-7 times per day for 5 to 25 days, achieving a compliance rate of over 70%.
conclusionsThe findings of this study highlight the current state of science in measuring social connectedness in older adults through EMA and demonstrate its feasibility in real-world settings. Further research is suggested to address the conceptual and methodological challenges of EMA, as measurement of multifactorial constructs of social connectedness and standardization of EMA protocols may increase the likelihood of capturing useful information about older adults' real-time social connectedness.
trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42024499050; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024499050.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.