The Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative (MGSDII) is pleased to announce the funding of a multi-site, innovative collaboration between world-renowned researchers at University of Haifa (UoH), Israel and UC San Diego. This study is a first of its kind and is poised to have a significant impact on the lives of older adults in the USA, Israel and beyond. It is also part of a broader commitment to promote and advance a long-term academic partnership between students, professors, and researchers at UCSD and UoH.

This collaboration will adapt pioneering work on loneliness from the Center for Healthy Aging at UC San Diego to address the worldwide issue of social isolation among seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic.  It also includes a visiting teaching scholar from the UoH Department of Gerontology and the Center for Research and Study of Ageing (CRSA) Israel to conduct research and teach at UCSD.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers were deeply concerned about the modern epidemic of loneliness, especially among older adults and its implications. Social distancing needed to limit the spread of the virus has exacerbated these problems. Research shows that chronic feeling of being lonely has links to a variety of health issues, including dementia, depression, and anxiety. Social isolation can be as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Social isolation and loneliness can be also be viewed as an infringement of fundamental human rights to dignity and respect in old age.

This innovative program will address the issues of COVID-19 related loneliness in real-time for older adults with a Holocaust Survivor subset- both in the United States and Israel with a goal to make the intervention easily duplicable at low cost to empower numerous older adults and help them feel more connected and empowered. During this six -week intervention participants aged 65+, in Israel and San Diego,  will take part in 30-minute semiweekly sessions, administered remotely by phone, computer, or tablet.  These sessions will address topics like gratitude and resilience and will employ value-based activities enhancing empathy, compassion, and self-compassion. Researchers will also follow participants post-intervention. This intervention has been developed over the past few weeks and is now ready to launch.

The findings of this novel intervention will be presented in academic conferences that will be held both in San-Diego and Haifa, and will hopefully be the first step for broader scientific collaborations and initiatives.