Table 2.

Characteristics of Included Studies.

Citation	Location	Aim of Study	Study Design	Sample Size	Methodology	Key Findings
Buckley and McCarthy (2009)	Urban LTC facility in Southern Ireland	To explore residents’ relationships with others	Qualitative phenomenological design	n = 10 (females between 71 and 99 years old)	Semi-structured in-depth interviews	Relations between residents were not intimate Residents replaced certain relationships with other relationships (e.g., friends with family) Visitors connected residents with the outside world Cognitively intact residents did not want to interact with cognitively impaired residents Staffs’ ability to understand residents’ needs enhanced residents’ connectedness Residents felt cut off from the outside world
Casey et al. (2016)	Nursing home in Sydney, Australia	To describe nursing home resident’s perceptions of their friendship networks	Multiple social network analysis methods (cross-sectional interviews, standardized assessment, and observation and network analyses) utilized	n = 94 (older adults between the ages of 63 and 94 years)	Observational data on residents’ social interactions. Residents interviewed and verbal and nonverbal responses recorded	Approximately 90% of residents took part in at least one type of structured social activity Residents had sparse networks with unit coresidents and cited age and gender as a barrier to forming friendships with other residents Residents had few nonfamily network members, leading to risk of social isolation
Cook et al. (2006)	United Kingdom	To understand the difficulties that residents with sensory impairments face when interacting with others	Study A: hermeneutic inquiry Study B: constructivist study	Study n = 8 (older adults between 52 and 95 years.) Study B: n = 18 (seniors 70+ years)	Study A: interviews Study B: Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and resident focus group interviews	Being capable of hearing conversations between others let residents feel as though they were part of the outside world. Hearing-impaired residents miss out on this When patients accommodated each other’s problems, they became more familiar Residents with sensory impairments had difficulty recognizing others that they had previously met; their lack of acknowledgment was sometimes viewed as rudeness
Grenade and Boldy (2008)	Australia	Identified research gaps on social isolation in residential homes	N/A	N/A	N/A	In the community, a large proportion of older adults experience some degree of loneliness with sociodemographic, health, and life events acting as risk factors Little is known about loneliness and social isolation in nursing homes; some evidence suggests that residents still experience loneliness In residential care, poor health, frailty, diminished cognitive capacity, and dependency act as risk factors for social isolation In residential care, potential interventions include organized activities and events that help residents stay connected with the wider community
Kortes-Miller et al. (2018)	Ontario, Canada	To examine LGBTQ2S+ adults’ perspectives on their future in LTCs	Qualitative analysis—focus groups	n = 23 (older adults aged 57–78 years)	Focus groups lasted 1.5 hrs. Audio recordings and transcriptions kept from the focus groups	Participants were concerned about stigmatization and discrimination Participants were worried about being void of social support, losing autonomy, and being dependent on care providers Feared that other residents would be judgmental and that the environment might not be supportive of their identity
Ludlow et al. (2018)	Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan	To determine the effect of hearing loss on person-centered care in LTCs	Two-stage narrative review	n = 6 (publications)	Systematic approach was employed	Environmental factors and cognitive impairment impeded communication for those with hearing loss Hearing loss limited residents’ abilities to participate in social activities LTC did not have adequate onsite services and assisted listening devices Care staff received little information and training on ways to improve communication for hearing-impaired residents but still tried to enhance communication
Parmenter et al. (2012)	Rural New South Wales, Australia	To identify determinants of rural nursing home visits	Survey	n = 257 (seniors 65+ years)	Structured telephone surveys	Longer amount of time spent living in a LTC was associated with a decline in the number of visitors Common barriers to frequent visiting included time, distance, and transport problems
Webber et al. (2014)	Victoria, Australia	To explore the experience of older adults with intellectual disabilities in LTCs	Dimensional analysis	n = 10 (7 males and 3 females)	Group home staff, LTC staff, and family were interviewed about residents	Other residents were uncomfortable with residents with intellectual disabilities and avoided them Residents with intellectual disabilities preferred interacting with staff to other residents and experienced a disconnection from past relationships Intellectually disabled residents’ health improved