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

Summary

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.

Conditions

• Social Isolation
• Loneliness
• Geriatric

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Intergenerational HOW R U?

1-on-1 discussion over telephone with a trained volunteer aged 19-39 years old who has received training to provide strength-based support sessions weekly for 12 weeks.

BEHAVIORAL

Same-Generation Peer Support HOW R U?

1-on-1 discussion over telephone with a trained volunteer aged 60 years or older who has received training to provide strength-based support sessions weekly for 12 weeks.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• North York General Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Sunnybrook Research Institute

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Toronto

  collaborator OTHER

• Bolton Clarke Research Institute

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• King's College London

  collaborator OTHER

• Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-11-01

Primary Completion

2023-11-01

Completion

2024-02-01

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations