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About the project
Research shows that social isolation in seniors contributes to worsening health, such as mental distress, depression, anxiety, and increased pain. Saint John’s low-income neighborhoods are home to over 400 seniors who live in subsidized housing and almost 4,000 children who live in poverty. This project connected seniors with students from the low socioeconomic areas, to reduce loneliness, increase positive self-regard, and improve well-being in seniors. Expressive arts programs were offered for seniors and students in Saint John’s low-income, priority neighborhoods: North End and Waterloo Village. Activities in the program were chosen by the four program facilitators, and included fairytale charades, puppets and card making, and song writing. 18 seniors and 40 students participated in the program. Data was only measured on the seniors involved. Students were not included in the evaluation due to Covid-19 restrictions and school closures.
Conclusions and lessons learned
- Seniors ranked their enjoyment of the program activities as high. The percentage of seniors who indicated enjoying the activities ranged from 41 to 88%, with a median of 74.4% enjoyment.
- Overall, quantitative results did not show statistically significant change in participant levels of life satisfaction, loneliness, anxiety, or depression. Data collection from seniors and students was hampered due to school closures, and Covid-19 restrictions
- The project team hypothesises that without the program, the levels of loneliness, depression, and life satisfaction would have been lower, due to the effects of Covid on the senior population such as isolation.
Recommendations
Community support from both the seniors’ communities and the school liaisons were strong in this project, indicating a motivation from Saint John community members to support this project again the future.
To learn more read the complete project findings (PDF 126 KB)