Research Spotlight: Canadian Centre for Elder Law

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law (CCEL) works collaboratively with community stakeholders, provincial agencies, national bodies and other organizations to uncover hidden issues that dramatically affect older adults. The CCEL is part of the British Columbia Law Institute, British Columbia’s non-profit independent law reform agency. To support elder law reform, the CCEL 1) investigates legal shortfalls affecting older adults, 2) carries out legal research, analysis, and consultation to make recommendations, and 3) engages in outreach to enhance understanding of legal issues. The CCEL has published a variety of reports, study papers, and practical resources on topics such as elder abuse and the legal and decision-making rights of people living with dementia.

A key resource developed and maintained by the CCEL is the website the Practical Guide to Elder Abuse and Neglect Law in Canada. This website includes information on elder abuse and neglect law at the Federal level and for all 13 provinces and territories in Canada. The website also provides 12 guiding principles meant to help people working with older adults to respond to the rights of older adults who are abused, neglected, or at risk in a manner that is effective and reflects best practices.

New Statistics Canada Research

Immigrant status and loneliness among older Canadians

This study used data from the Canadian Health Survey on Seniors to estimate the prevalence of loneliness among older Canadians. An estimated 1.1 million older Canadians (19.2%) experienced loneliness, with women having a significantly higher likelihood of being lonely than men. Immigrants experienced a higher prevalence of loneliness than the Canadian-born population.

The prevalence of household air conditioning in Canada

This study used data from 2017 to examine the prevalence of household air conditioning in Canada. The prevalence varied significantly by region: 85% of people in Ontario had air conditioning, 58% in Quebec, 49% in the Prairie region, 38% in the Atlantic region and 32% in British Columbia. Older adults living alone had significantly lower air conditioning rates than the national average.

New Research Reports on CORE

• Independent Senior Centres: Connecting and Supporting Older Adults in Metro Vancouver [Laura Kadowaki, Andrea Wadman, Anthony L. Kupferschmidt & Andrew Wister]
• Rapid synthesis: Identifying community-based models to enable older adults to live independently [Téjia Bain, Peter DeMaio, Cara Evans, Saif Alam, Safa Al-Khateeb, Zaim Khan, Sarah Soueidan, Austine Wang, Adam El-Kadi, & Michael G. Wilson]

New Journal Articles

Open Access Articles

Articles that are free and accessible to the general public.

Shevelkova, V., Mattocks, C., & Lafortune, L. (2023). Efforts to address the Sustainable Development Goals in older populations: a scoping review. BMC public health, 23(1), 456. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15308-4

The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) seeks to create multisectoral changes that align healthy ageing with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this review, the authors searched for literature on efforts to address SDGs that target older adults. Only a small amount of literature was found, with poverty, good health and wellbeing, reduced inequalities, and sustainable cities and communities the most commonly discussed SDGs.

Closed Access Articles

Articles that require a paid subscription. If you are a student or alumni of a college or university you may be able to access these through your institution’s library.

Grover, S., Sandhu, P., Nijjar, G. S., Percival, A., Chudyk, A. M., Liang, J., McArthur, C., Miller, W. C., Mortenson, W. B., Mulligan, K., Newton, C., Park, G., Pitman, B., Rush, K. L., Sakakibara, B. M., Petrella, R. J., & Ashe, M. C. (2023). Older adults and social prescribing experience, outcomes, and processes: a meta-aggregation systematic review. Public Health, 218, 197–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.02.016

This systematic review identified eight publications exploring social prescribing programs for older adults. The authors summarize key findings related to 1) personalized intervention approaches, 2) relationships with providers and connectors, 3) behaviour change strategies, 4) the environment, and 5) health and psychosocial outcomes.  

Hopper, S., Best, J. R., Wister, A. V., & Cosco, T. D. (2023). Contributors to mental health resilience in middle-aged and older adults: an analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. International psychogeriatrics, 1–10. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610223000224

Hopper and colleagues examined data from a cohort of approximately 31,000 older adults from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to identify factors associated with mental health resilience. Lower household income and lower education levels were associated with poorer mental health. Individuals who engaged in more physical activity and had larger social networks had better mental health, suggesting interventions targeting these factors would be beneficial, particularly for older adults with lower income and education levels.