Scoping Review of the Literature Social Isolation of Seniors 2013-2014

Methodology

This scoping review involved a systematic selection, collection and summarization of existing knowledge relating to the social isolation of seniors in broad thematic areas to identify which were well covered and where there were gaps.

Sources of information included electronic databases, government websites, and an e-mail consultation with representatives from various levels of government. Relevant studies identified included peer-reviewed articles as well as grey literature (e.g. research reports, government reports, government and non-government evaluations of programs/services, theses, and policy analyses).

While the intent was to focus on Canadian information, the scope was also expanded to include a number of international sources of information as well. Since seniors are often referred to as “older adults” in the literature, documents including information relevant to both were consulted.

The process started with a list of 214 documents identified using pre-determined search terms (Appendix A) that broadly touched upon social isolation. Fifty-two articles remained in the scoping review after the application of screening criteria (Appendix A). NSC members and Secretariat staff then wrote a summary of each article and created a summary table.