Measuring and Intervening to Instill Purpose in Life for Older Adults to Prevent Cognitive Decline

In this issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Giyeon Kim and colleagues1 employ secondary data analyses of longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) to determine the association of a constructed scale which assesses purpose in life (PIL) with cognitive outcomes, a clever use of a large and readily available data set. They find that persons with one standard deviation above the mean on the purpose in life scale score nearly one point higher on an overall assessment of cognitive function determined by a composite scale ranging from 0 to 35.

Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - January 30, 2019 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Dan Blazer Tags: Invited Perspective Source Type: research