ABSTRACT Social relationships and engagement are critically important to well-being in later life and have been found to be strongly correlated with isolation and loneliness. Addressing loneliness has emerged in recent years as a grand challenge for our health and social care systems. In this article, the author introduces, describes, and provides a preliminary evaluation of the “virtual care farm” – an innovative union of high-technology online communities and low-technology care farms. Preliminary evaluation suggests that connecting older adults with nature and older adults with each other have the potential to facilitate social engagement, foster relationships, and address loneliness and isolation.

中文翻译：

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虚拟护理农场：对通过自然和技术解决孤独和建立社区的创新方法的初步评估

摘要 社会关系和参与对以后生活的幸福至关重要，并且已被发现与孤立和孤独密切相关。近年来，解决孤独问题已成为我们的健康和社会保健系统面临的巨大挑战。在本文中，作者对“虚拟看护农场”——高科技在线社区和低技术看护农场的创新结合进行了介绍、描述和初步评价。初步评估表明，将老年人与自然和老年人彼此联系起来有可能促进社会参与、培养关系并解决孤独和孤立问题。