The Knowledge and Implementation Hub team undertook a desktop environmental scan to find high-quality practical resources on social isolation in aged care. These resources are now available in the Resource Collection of the Hub. To read more about our environmental scan process, see the PDF report below.
What we did
In July 2022, we conducted structured searches using the Advanced Search version of Google alongside targeted searches of relevant organisational websites. We also consulted the ARIIA Evidence Advisory Group on Social Isolation to suggest resources to add to our Resource Collection.
Resources had to be Australian, freely available and useful for practice. They also had to meet certain quality criteria such as currency (last 5 years), author or organisation credibility and objectivity, and content accuracy and depth of coverage.
What we found
We identified 26 Australian resources on social isolation. Different types of resources were identified such as webpages, blogs, articles, reports, guidelines, and information sheets providing tips on how to reduce social isolation of older people. Most of the resources were from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and Council on the Ageing (COTA).
Keeping the collection current
The environmental scan process was repeated in May 2023 to find resources produced since July 2022. The project team will continue to repeat the scan process at scheduled intervals to ensure the resource content for social isolation remains up to date.
You can download the full environmental scan summary report below.