COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review

Angelina Falconi; Christina Saliba; Raza Mirza; Christopher Klinger

doi:10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908

COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review

Abstract

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide implemented strict non-visitor policies in long-term care (LTC) homes. As a result, older adults were often confined to their rooms and only “essential visitors” were allowed. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, the goal was to examine the impact visitor restrictions had on social isolation of older adults in LTC homes in Ontario (Canada) as well as to make recommendations for further research, policy, and practice. Twenty-five articles that met inclusion criteria were reviewed. Themes identified included the impact visitor restrictions had on older adults residing in LTC as well as their ethical and legal implications. Pandemic policies should be assessed at the individual level with family members essential to resident’s care. Information and communication technology (ICT) was seen as crucial to support social connectedness in later life. While written from a Canadian perspective, implications reach globally.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

The University of Toronto, University College

Ethical Statement

This knowledge synthesis was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the HST450Y1 Health Studies Independent Research Course at University College within the University of Toronto (AF). Preliminary results from this scoping review were presented as a research poster at the University College Research and Practice Day in April 2024 (AF). The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Thanks

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Elena Springall, MLIS, Liaison and Education Librarian, Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto with refining the search strings.

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Social Policy (Other), Preventative Health Care, Public Health (Other), Family Care, Aged Health Care

Journal Section

Review

Authors

Angelina Falconi ^*
0009-0001-6556-2720
Canada

Christina Saliba This is me
0009-0000-3724-3282
Canada

Raza Mirza This is me
0000-0003-4430-6012
Canada

Christopher Klinger This is me
0009-0008-9296-2210
Canada

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

December 12, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 23, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 8 Number: 3

DOI

https://doi.org/10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA94RR36DL

Cite

RIS / Bibtex

APA

Falconi, A., Saliba, C., Mirza, R., & Klinger, C. (2025). COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review. Journal of Aging and Long-Term Care, 8(3), 119-145. https://doi.org/10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908

AMA

1.Falconi A, Saliba C, Mirza R, Klinger C. COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review. J Aging Long Term Care. 2025;8(3):119-145. doi:10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908

Chicago

Falconi, Angelina, Christina Saliba, Raza Mirza, and Christopher Klinger. 2025. “COVID-19’s Non-Visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review”. Journal of Aging and Long-Term Care 8 (3): 119-45. https://doi.org/10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908.

EndNote

Falconi A, Saliba C, Mirza R, Klinger C (December 1, 2025) COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review. Journal of Aging and Long-Term Care 8 3 119–145.

IEEE

[1]A. Falconi, C. Saliba, R. Mirza, and C. Klinger, “COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review”, J Aging Long Term Care, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 119–145, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908.

ISNAD

Falconi, Angelina - Saliba, Christina - Mirza, Raza - Klinger, Christopher. “COVID-19’s Non-Visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review”. Journal of Aging and Long-Term Care 8/3 (December 1, 2025): 119-145. https://doi.org/10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908.

JAMA

1.Falconi A, Saliba C, Mirza R, Klinger C. COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review. J Aging Long Term Care. 2025;8:119–145.

MLA

Falconi, Angelina, et al. “COVID-19’s Non-Visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review”. Journal of Aging and Long-Term Care, vol. 8, no. 3, Dec. 2025, pp. 119-45, doi:10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908.

Vancouver

1.Angelina Falconi, Christina Saliba, Raza Mirza, Christopher Klinger. COVID-19’s Non-visitor Policy and Its Impact on Social Isolation of Older Adults in Ontario Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review. J Aging Long Term Care. 2025 Dec. 1;8(3):119-45. doi:10.51819/jaltc.2025.1826908