Grant: Project Grant

Canada's aging population is at risk for loneliness, social isolation, and mental health problems including anxiety and depression. Compared to younger age groups, older adults are less likely to seek professional mental health treatment when they need it. Providing mental health treatment for older adults in partnership with community organizations is one way to improve social connection and enhance mental health and may be more accessible and more desirable to older adults. Our team of community leaders, researchers, and psychologists working in aging and mental health has developed a 6-session telephone-based group program for older adults experiencing loneliness, social isolation, and mental health problems (anxiety, depression) called The CONNECT Program. Initial testing of this program in Manitoba provides early evidence that this program is feasible by telephone, members enjoy participating, and they experience lower anxiety and depression and greater social connectedness, mental flexibility, and understanding of mental health after participating. The goals of the current project are to engage community organizations across four Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia) in rolling out and testing The CONNECT Program through telephone and virtual modalities. Working with our community organizations at each stage, from project design to sharing project findings, we will evaluate partnerships, the roll out of the program, and how well the program works across provinces in improving loneliness, social connection, and mental health. The expansion of The CONNECT Program, through region and modality, will add to a lack of accessible, evidence-based programming targeting the experiences of loneliness, social isolation, and co-occurring mental health problems among Canadian older adults.