This study focuses on a population of individuals living in supportive living in Alberta:
Resident loneliness, social isolation and unplanned emergency department visits from supportive living facilities: A population-based study in Alberta, Canada. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), 1-11. Chamberlain, S. A., Bronskill, S. E., Hsu, Z., Youngson, E., & Gruneir, A. (2022).
Supportive living (SL) facilities are designed to provide a residential care setting in a less restrictive and more cost-effective way than nursing homes. Residents of these facilities, with poor social relationships, may be at risk for increased health service use. The researchers describe the demographic and health service use patterns of lonely and socially isolated SL residents and quantify associations between loneliness and social isolation on unplanned emergency department visits.
“Lonely residents had a different demographic profile (older, female, cognitively impaired) from socially isolated residents and were more likely to experience an unplanned ED visit. Our findings suggest the need to develop interventions to assist SL care providers with how to identify and address social factors to reduce risk of unplanned ED visits.”
Read the full study, details and methods in BMC Geriatrics, “an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of the health and healthcare of older people, including the effects of healthcare systems and policies.”
