eSocial-HUB: Co-development of a virtual HUB to combat social isolation and loneliness among seniors in Francophone (Manitoba and New Brunswick) and Anglophone (Quebec) linguistic/cultural minorities (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Worldwide, governments are actively speed up ambitious vaccination programmes against the COVID-19, while its third wave persists in several canadian juridictions caused by emerging strains. The first wave severely hit Canadian nursing facilities (81% of deaths). To this toll, public health measures that reduced physical contacts and visitation restriction have subsequently deepened the social isolation and loneliness in nursing facilities (NF) residents. This unanticipated collateral effects increases residents vulnerability, especially those in linguistic minority settings: Anglophone institutions in Quebec and Francophone institutions outside Quebec. While no one could have prepared for the challenges of COVID 19, certain innovative interventions have yielded successful results. Our project intends to draw on these winning practices and apply them in linguistic and cultural minority settings. Very few COVID-19 initiatives targeting these populations specifically have been documented. Given the limited number of NF serving linguistic minorities in Canadian populations, families and loved ones often live far from these facilities, sometimes even in other provinces. This context places the digital solutions as particularly relevant in per-COVID-19 as well as in the post-COVID-19. OBJECTIVE The project aims to co-develop a virtual community of practice HUB (eSocial-HUB) to combat social isolation and loneliness among the elderly in linguistic minority settings in Canada. METHODS An intervention study will use a sequential mixed method design. Four purposely selected NF will be included, two in facilities in Manitoba and two in New Brunswick; and two Anglophone NF in Quebec will serve as knowledge user. The development of eSocial-HUB will include an experimental 4-month phase involving end users: 1) elderly (n=3 per NF), 2) families of participating elderly (n=3 per NF), and 3) frontline staff (nurse and nursing assistant) (n=2 per NF). RESULTS Activities and solutions aiming at reducing social isolation and loneliness will be implemented and then evaluated with the project stakeholders, and the best practices generated. The assessment will be conducted using indicators derived from the five domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. The project will be led by an interdisciplinary team and will involve a multisectoral partnership. CONCLUSIONS The project will develop a promising and generalizable solution that uses virtual technology to help reduce social isolation and loneliness among the elderly.