The Social Connection E-learning modules

The Social Connection e-learning modules provide aged care staff with the basics for understanding social connection and its importance for older adults’ health and wellbeing. The five short modules below introduce social connection and related terms such as social isolation and loneliness, and provide aged care workers and allied health professionals with a framework to support older people social and emotional needs whilst living in residential aged care.

Module 1: So, what is social connection?

In this video, Prof Jane Farmer, Director of Swinburne University’s Social Innovation Research Institute, provides a brief overview of social connection and why it’s difficult to find a simple definition.

Module 2: So, why is social connection important?

In this video, Swinburne researcher Jasmine Knox explains how social connection positively affects a person’s physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Module 3: Supporting social connection in residential aged care

In this video, researcher Jasmine Knox explains the Social Connection Framework and how this could be used to support and enable social connection for older people living in residential aged care.

Module 4: Introducing the Social Connection Tool

In this video, researcher Jasmine Knox introduces the Social Connection Tool, a conversational style tool that provides aged care staff with a standardised way to have comfortable conversations with residents about their social connection needs and preferences.

Module 5: Resident and Aged Care Staff testimonials

In this video, residents, staff and management involved in co-designing the Social Connection Tool, share their opinions on why supporting connection for older people living in residential aged care is important and how the Tool differs from existing Tools, that collect information about residents’ social needs.