School of Public Health, 3158University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Department of Psychology, SPHERU, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Healthc Manage Forum. 2021 Sep;34(5):266-271. doi: 10.1177/08404704211009233. Epub 2021 May 13.
The pandemic has exposed and amplified complex and complicated health and societal challenges while offering immense opportunities to transform societies to improve health for all. Social isolation is a challenging and persistent issue experienced by many older adults, especially among immigrant and refugee seniors. Unique risk factors such as racism, discrimination, language barriers, weak social networks, and separation from friends and family predispose immigrant and refugee seniors to a higher risk of social isolation. The pandemic has magnified the unique risks and has highlighted the differential health and economic impacts. This article examines social isolation among immigrant and refugee seniors in Canada by focusing on the policy context, available programs and services to reduce social isolation, and the conceptualization and measurement considerations for advancing research to address social isolation among this growing population. Drawing on specific examples, we discuss immigration, aging, and social isolation within the context of Canada. While our article focuses on Canada as a case study, our discussion has relevancy and implications for other high-income countries with aging immigrant and refugee populations. In moving forward, we argue that a more complete and targeted understanding of social isolation is essential to informing program and policy development to support immigrant and refugee seniors in Canada and beyond. The transformation needed in our societies to create health for all requires strong equity and determinants of health perspective and a systems approach beyond health to ensure lasting change.
大流行暴露并放大了复杂和复杂的健康和社会挑战，同时提供了巨大的机会来转变社会，改善所有人的健康。社会隔离是许多老年人面临的一个具有挑战性和持久的问题，尤其是在移民和难民老年人中。独特的风险因素，如种族主义、歧视、语言障碍、薄弱的社交网络以及与朋友和家人的分离，使移民和难民老年人更容易面临社会隔离的高风险。大流行放大了这些独特的风险，并突出了不同的健康和经济影响。本文通过关注政策背景、可用的减少社会隔离的计划和服务，以及为解决这一不断增长的人口的社会隔离问题而推进研究的概念化和测量考虑因素，来研究加拿大移民和难民老年人的社会隔离问题。我们将通过具体案例讨论加拿大的移民、老龄化和社会隔离问题。虽然我们的文章以加拿大作为案例研究，但我们的讨论对于其他老龄化移民和难民人口众多的高收入国家具有相关性和启示意义。在向前推进的过程中，我们认为，要为加拿大乃至其他国家的移民和难民老年人提供支持，必须从方案和政策制定的角度，更全面、更有针对性地了解社会隔离问题。为了实现所有人的健康，我们的社会需要进行变革，这需要从健康决定因素和公平的角度以及超越健康的系统方法来确保持久的变革。
