Autobiographical Time Travel to Alleviate Loneliness in Older Adults

Older adults (≥65 years) from the Kimel Family Centre registry will be recruited based ona pre‐specified score of loneliness. Recruitment will occur on a rolling basis throughemail and telephone contact, in‐person booths, and information sessions. Kimel memberswho express interest in participating will then be emailed to schedule a time to bescreened for eligibility via telephone.Prior to the telephone screening, consent forms will be sent via email for participantsto review. The details of the study will be explained at the beginning of a telephonescreening process. Participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions and toindicate whether they wish to continue, whereupon the screening questions will beadministered to those who agree. Those who meet the eligibility criteria and provideinformed consent will be scheduled for randomization into one of the two groups.Randomization will be computer‐generated, stratified by baseline loneliness severity,number of other social groups taken at Kimel Family Centre, sex and gender.Participants will be randomly assigned to either: (1) Experimental condition: mental timetravel protocol (reminiscence induction + imagery rescripting + positive prospection) or(2) a time‐matched control condition: Kimel Centre group activities (see Arms andInterventions). Both groups will be encouraged to continue engaging with existing KimelCentre programming throughout the study period.Both groups will complete the scheduled outcome assessments at baseline, 1‐monthpost‐baseline, 3‐month follow‐up, and 6‐month follow‐up. The experimental group willcomplete additional assessments throughout the experimental sessions (see Outcomemeasures).After completion of the main study, participants assigned to the time‐matched control maybe offered an opportunity to receive the structured experimental protocol, provided thatthe study remains active and the investigators determine that offering the protocol isappropriate.