CISS Practicum: Researching Loneliness in Older Adults

MPH candidate Amit Paul worked with the Research Center on Society and Health (CISS) researching loneliness of older adults at the end of life.

December 31, 2022

Amit Paul, a Master of Public Health (MPH) candidate at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, came to Chile from October through December to work with Universidad Mayor’s Research Center on Society and Health (CISS) on a project regarding loneliness and kinlessness - or those without a spouse or children - of older adults at the end of life.

Working under the guidance of CISS’s Benjamin Jara, “we are using end of life measurements from exit surveys of decedents across several countries and using the UCLA Loneliness scale to measure loneliness,” says Paul. “I have been helping add to our sample size by harmonizing measurements into our STATA dataset. I am working on further refining our research questions, hypotheses, literature review, data analysis, and writing an article for publication.”

Before coming to Chile, Paul was conducting research in the Dominican Republic “and it has been fascinating to experience two different Latin American cultures,” he notes. “I am happy to have improved my Spanish so much. I am grateful to feel welcomed in Chile and cherish the moments I’ve had with the people I’ve met in Santiago. Some of my favorite experiences in Chile were seeing Magellanic penguins in Island Magdalena, going horseback riding in San Pedro de Atacama, and feeding flamingos in Parque Bicentenario.

Paul expects to work towards a PhD in Public Health, and in his free time, he likes to cook, go to the gym, meditate, and write poetry.

The CISS practicum is one result of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in June 2021 between Mailman and Universidad Mayor to further develop cooperation in the areas of education, research and other activities that they deem mutually beneficial.