The Barriers and Facilitators to Social Engagement within an Elderly Care Setting Post-Covid-19: A Systematic Review

Despite 550,000 British men claiming to experience feelings of loneliness and social isolation, elderly males are less likely than older females to admit this, as such concepts are typically considered ‘female’ by this demographic (Hansen & Slagsvold, 2016., Beach & Banford, 2018., Rokack, 2018.). With poor health outcomes such as risk of cardiovascular disease and early mortality predicted for those who suffer from loneliness and social isolation, this puts the older male population at greater risk of such physical health implications (Valtorta et al., 2016). Social activities offered in care homes are infamously catered to female preferences, however, recently, engagement with male-targeted community programmes, such as Men’s Sheds, have unveiled positive emotional outcomes for older males by promoting their self-esteem and a greater sense of belonging, thus enforcing a need for more male-oriented programmes (Golding, 2015). Linc Housing Association and The University of South Wales are collaborating to address the lack of social activity uptake of elderly male care home residents by working towards creating a mixed-method study, currently at the conceptualisation stage, to investigate and establish the barriers older men face and to create an action plan to overcome these.