Published Articles

Anxiety

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A systematic review and meta-analysis on physical activity for the treatment of anxiety in older adults.

Article Goodarzi, Z., Levy, A.M., Whitmore, C., Chan, T., Mojgani, J., Niculescu, I., Suthakaran, A., Flint, A., Gough, A., Grenier, S., Juola, H., Reynolds, K., Neil-Sztramko, S., Trenaman, S.C., Weir, E., Van Ameringen, M., Yeung, A. and Iaboni, A. (2025). A systematic review and meta-analysis on physical activity for the treatment of anxiety in older…

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Factors associated with anxiety and fear of falling in older adults: A rapid systematic review of reviews.

The aim of this systematic review of reviews, was to synthesize existing evidence on risk factors associated with anxiety in older adults to improve opportunities for early detection and intervention.

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Detection of anxiety symptoms and disorders in older adults: A diagnostic accuracy systematic review.

A systematic review was conducted looking at several diagnostic tools for identifying anxiety symptoms in community-dwelling older adults.

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Behaviours in Dementia

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Developing Person-Centred Metadata: A Case Study of the Behaviours in Dementia Toolkit

Terminology used in dementia care is fiercely contested. Advocates, health care providers, and researchers often have divergent perspectives on how aspects of dementia can and should be described. We created the Behaviours in Dementia Toolkit to equip health care providers and care partners with important health information to better understand and compassionately respond to changes in mood and/or behaviour that often accompany dementia.

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Guideline recommendations on behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia: A systematic review

To synthesize recommendations on assessing and managing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSDs) in existing clinical practice guidelines on dementia care to learn from and adapt recommendations to a Canadian context and language.

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Mental Health in Long-Term Care

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Timely yet long overdue: Canadian standards for long-term care homes

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted systemic problems in Canadian long-term care (LTC).  While high mortality rates in LTC received significant attention, the pandemic also took an enormous toll on mental health of LTC residents, where mental health conditions, including cognitive disorders, are already much higher than in other community settings.

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Social Isolation and Loneliness

All Articles on Social Isolation and Loneliness

Can ‘What Is Known’ about Social Isolation and Loneliness Interventions Sufficiently Inform the Clinical Practice of Health Care and Social Service Professionals Who Work with Older Adults?

Establishing intervention effectiveness is an important component of a broader knowledge translation (KT) process. However, mobilizing the implementation of these interventions into practice is perhaps the most important aspect of the KT cycle. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an umbrella review to (a) identify promising interventions for SI&L in older adults, (b) interpret (translate) the findings to inform clinical knowledge and practice interventions in different settings and contexts, and (c) highlight research gaps that may hinder the uptake of these interventions in practice.

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Canadian Clinical Guidelines on Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

The problem of social isolation and loneliness is a “geriatric” giant that needs to be recognized and addressed. We recommend that health care and social service providers use these guidelines as a comprehensive tool to identify, assess, and implement strategies to reduce the negative impact of social isolation and loneliness.

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Embracing Connection: A Review of First-Ever Clinical Guidelines on Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

Social isolation and loneliness are major public health concerns and are associated with morbidity and mortality. As this is an increasing issue in older adults, guidance for healthcare providers is a priority. The Canadian Coalition for Senior’s Mental Health (CCSMH) has developed the first Canadian social isolation and loneliness guidelines to help providers recognize, assess, and manage social isolation and loneliness among older adults.

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The Silent Epidemic of Loneliness

An opinion piece in University Affairs that addresses “Why Canada’s universities need to teach health care students to promote social connection.”

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Other Publications

Evaluating the impact of a national geriatric mental health ECHO educational program on healthcare providers’ practice

CCSMH has partnered with Baycrest a few times over the past couple of years to deliver national geriatric mental health ECHO series (ECHO stands for Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes). One of these series was the subject of an evaluation to measure the programs effectiveness in supporting health care providers in addressing complex mental health issues faced by older adults.

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Evidence Based Principles to Accelerate Health Information Flow and Uptake Among Older Adults

This article describes the development of evidence-based principles for increasing health information flow among older adults and how those principles were implemented in a major knowledge mobilization project in Canada—the CCSMH’s Behaviours in Dementia Toolkit.

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Optimizing Older Adult Mental Health in Support of Healthy Ageing: A Pluralistic Framework to Inform Transformative Change across Community and Healthcare Domains

This paper describes a pluralistic framework to inform transformative change across community and healthcare domains to optimize the mental health of older adults in support of healthy ageing. An extensive review and analysis of the literature informed the creation of a framework that contextualizes the priority areas of the WHO Decade of Health Ageing with respect to older adult mental health.

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