Promising Best Practices Implemented in Long- Term Care Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic to Address Social Isolation and Loneliness: A Scoping Review

Context: Throughout the current COVID-19 pandemic, tremendous effort has been made to implement innovative practices to address social isolation and loneliness (SIL) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), disproportionally affected by COVID-19. These interventions have not yet been synthesized. This review intended to gather the current promising best practices (PBPs) implemented in LTCFs to alleviate SIL in older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as during the SARS and H1N1 pandemics, using an intersectional lens. Methods: An extensive search was done in nine electronic databases. Arksey and O’Malley’s framework was used to format the scoping review. Two independent reviewers screened citations for inclusion, blindly. The selection of articles was conducted blindly by two coauthors. Finally, 16 studies were analyzed out of 9,077 records. Results: Two main themes of findings arose from this review. They comprised proximal PBPs directly addressing SIL in LTCF residents such as pseudo-contact interventions (e.g., chat from balcony or behind transparent barriers/glasses), remote communication tools (e.g., phone or video chat, voice mail/text messaging), and humanoid robots. Distal PBPs included measures implemented to prevent or mitigate the development of COVID-19, including COVID-19 screening approaches, outbreak preparedness, quarantining approaches for both residents and staff. Conclusion: This scoping review found varied PBP implemented during the multiple waves of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as evidence supporting their effectiveness. The contribution of this study is significant as most of the PBP investigated should be prioritized by public policymakers or institutions to provide more satisfactory services to the elderly and their families