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Intergenerational Program for Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults Discharged From the Emergency Department

Geriatric | Social Isolation | Loneliness

Social isolation and loneliness worsens older adults' risk of dementia, quality of life, and death as much as smoking. Older adults are more likely to use emergency services and are also more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness than younger people. The emergency department is a new setting to screen for social isolation and loneliness in older adults and help accordingly.

Social isolation and loneliness are experienced differently by different older adults. Different interventions combatting social isolation and loneliness may work better for different people, and little is known about older adult's preferences for specific types of interventions.

HOW R U? is an effective and feasible intervention using same-generation peer support offered by trained hospital volunteers to reduce social isolation and loneliness in older adults. In partnership with the Australian developer of HOW R U?, this study will compare an intergenerational HOW R U? intervention using younger volunteers with the same-generation peer support intervention and a waitlist control arm.

The investigators partnered with the staff of emergency departments and family medicine clinics to identify people who will benefit from an intervention combatting, and Volunteer Services to recruit volunteers.

The investigators hypothesize that the older adults who receive the intergenerational HOW R U? intervention will have a greater improvement in social isolation and loneliness.

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Participation Requirements

  • Sex:

    ALL

  • Eligible Ages:

    70 and up

Participation Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

* Any community-dwelling person 70 years of age and older receiving care from the ED, Family Medicine, or Geriatric clinics at the two participating sites (MSH and NYGH) will be eligible.
* Baseline de Jong loneliness scores of 2.0 will be required for participation in the trial.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Age less than 70 years;
* Patients with communication problems (critically ill, unconscious, language barrier, speech impairment or otherwise unable to provide consent), or admission to a hospital for \> 72 hours.
* Patients with severe cognitive impairment or those living in nursing homes who are dependent on others for their activity of daily living will be excluded.
* Patients without any mobile phone or landline.

Volunteers:

* Volunteers will be 60 years of age or older to qualify as peer-support volunteers.
* Volunteers will be 19-39 years of age to qualify as intergenerational volunteers.

Study Location

Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Contact Study Team

Primary Contact

Jacques Lee, MD

[email protected]
Study Sponsored By
Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada
Participants Required
More Information
Study ID: NCT05998343