Community Intervention to Reduce Social Isolation in Elderly People: a Mixed Methods Multi-approach Evaluation

"The intervention School of Health for the Elderly consists of 22 weekly group sessions of 1.5 hours each. In addition to helping participants learn about different health issues, the intervention encourages interaction among participants and works on personal skills. Furthermore, most sessions are led by professionals who are experts on the topic covered and work in the neighborhood (professionals from the health services, social services, markets or neighborhood associations), making it easier to inform participants of the neighborhood's available resources. The aim of the intervention is to decrease social isolation and loneliness and, therefore, to improve mental health, self-perceived health and wellbeing"