Evaluation of a codesigned whole of community approach to promote social connection of older adults in ‘Connect Local’

Connect Local -– a codesigned social prescribing program This is a non-randomised trial where all eligible individuals living in the Local Government Area (LGA) of Glen Eira City Council who are participating in Connect Local will be invited to participate in the evaluation. The Connect Local service will be delivered to the individual by the community connector in the following manner, with the involvement in the Connect Local program being over three months – although this will vary, based on the individual needs and preferences - while the evaluation will be following participants over 12 months: 1. Spend at least an hour in a face to face appointment with participants to: a. Identify what matters to them; b. Work together on generating goals to address a social need, and a develop a plan to achieve these goals through linking them to activities and/or programs being offered in the Local Government Area (LGA) of Glen Eira City Council; c. Some examples of activities include: walking group, gardening group, crochet club, book club. These can be offered at the local community house or the local library. 2. Have a second face to face session of approximately an hour the following week, where: a. The individual will be supported to access these activities/programs through accessing local resources; 3. Have a follow up appointment by phone of approximately 20 minutes within a week of accessing the activity/program to assess whether the activities/programs have met their needs and they will continue to engage; a. Should there be any issues, the Community Connector may either engage with the program/activity provider to address them, or work with the individual to develop a new goal, plan and access new activity/program. 4. Have follow up phone calls of approximately 20 minutes after 2-3 weeks to ascertain progress; a. Should the individual have issues or need more engagement in additional activities/programs, face to face appointments to ascertain their needs and linking to additional activities/programs will occur. 5. Continue with follow up calls of approximately 20 minutes duration every 2-4 weeks, until 3 months where the final call outlines the Community Connector has fulfilled their role and the individual can continue engaging in the activity/program. Community Connectors: These are individuals with a tertiary qualification in health or social care related field. They are selected specifically for their high emotional intelligence, including the ability to build rapport with individuals, listen non-judgementally and work with individuals to identify what matters to them. A community development background is highly desirable. Prior to engaging participants, all Community Connectors are provided with a comprehensive orientation guide about the program and the activities involved and undergo training over 2 weeks prior to seeing community members, in social prescribing (WHO developed online training program of 2hr duration, wellness and reablement (including identifying ‘what matters to you’ and goal setting) of 4 hours duration, Cultural Diversity webinars and training modules of 2 hours duration, mental health first aid of 1 hour duration and trauma informed care of 2 hours duration. There are weekly meetings with the manager and community connectors to discuss the activities the community connectors have undertaken, debrief and plan the next week. Strategies to monitor adherence of the intervention: The program has developed documentation tools to capture information regarding engagement of participants through the program, including when participants are contacted, duration, activities and outcomes as part of the care delivery of the program. The codesign process to develop Connect Local: Codesign involved occurred between October 2021- December 2022 online and in local venues, engaged six community members (six 2hr sessions), nine local social service stakeholders (three 2hr sessions) and eight local healthcare service stakeholders (six 1.5hr sessions) living and/or working locally. Awareness of the program, recruitment of program participants, delivering the program and how the program would measure success were articulated and tested.