Year 1

Literature Review

A comprehensive literature search was undertaken to identify works that examine factors associated with social isolation/connectedness among older immigrants. A search of about 17 bibliographic databases (e.g., PSYCINFO, AGELINE), using multiple keywords for articles published between 2000 and 2020 that focused on quantitative or mixed methods results of studies that examined factors associated with social isolation in older immigrants was conducted.

The aim was to (1) generate a comprehensive list of individual, community, and societal factors, and (2) figure out whether they increase or decrease the risk of social isolation. The search resulted in 5,475 articles, of which 269 reported on quantitative or mixed methods studies. Of the 74 relevant studies, the majority were cross-sectional, survey-type research designs and were conducted in the US, Canada, and the UK. The target sample composition varied: in some studies, older immigrants from any country were included, whereas other studies included older immigrants from specific countries. A wide range of factors has been examined:

(1) Demographic characteristics (e.g. age, gender, education)
(2) Health profile (e.g. self-rated physical and mental health)
(3) Social or situational factors related to living arrangements, social network sizes, frequency of network contact, and
(4) Immigration-related factors (e.g. proficiency in the local language.
The results are being synthesized to determine which factors are most influential in increasing or decreasing the risk of social isolation.

Critical Interpretive Synthesis

Each article was coded for its sample characteristics, research design, any theories/frameworks used, and how social isolation and/or loneliness were understood.

The largest and most important category identified was ‘Characteristics and constructs influencing social isolation or loneliness’. All categories and the nodes within them were listed and described in a codebook, and the sample characteristics were summarized in a framework matrix. The text was often coded at multiple nodes to allow for exploration of possible relationships between them. For example, to explore how some of the frequently coded sample characteristics-such as gender, country of origin, or living alone/together -correlate with key influences on social isolation, such as dependence on family, constructing ethnicity and culture, fluency in and acquisition of recipient primary language, mental health, or transportation. These fall into a few big themes, which along with the connections between them will be elaborated as lines of argument in the final report.