What is the Sonnet Study?
Social connection is fundamental to person-centred care in long-term care homes. Yet, the development and implementation of psychometrically robust measures of social connection is limited, particularly for people living with dementia.
Social connection in long-term care home residents (called SONNET Study) was created to improve measurement of this person-centred outcome by evaluating existing measures and develop a new validated measurement approach.
What is Social Connection?
Social connection is an umbrella term that describes how we connect to other people. Social connection includes several distinct but related concepts. Some of these concepts are readily observed or measured, like the number of people in a person’s social network or social isolation, an objective lack of social contact. Whereas other aspects of social connection are subjective, like loneliness which describes how someone feels about the quality and quantity of their relationships.
Our Goals
The findings of the Sonnet Study will enable researchers and care settings to test the effects of interventions and to report outcomes at the individual-, home- and system-level. We will make our inventory of existing and new measures freely available. Our team has the interests, expertise and international networks to maximize impact by disseminating and promoting uptake of the instrument(s) in research and long-term care settings. Valid and reliable approaches to measuring social connection for long-term care home residents, including those living with dementia, will advance care and improve health and quality of life in this population.
Co-Principal Investigators
Jennifer Bethell, BSc, MSc, PhD
Andrew Sommerlad, MD, PhD