Healthy Aging CORE Research Spotlight: May 2024

Research Spotlight: CanAssist

CanAssist is an organization of the University of Victoria that is dedicated to helping people with disabilities improve their quality of life and to increasing awareness of disability issues. Since its early days as a small volunteer venture, CanAssist has had a direct impact on the quality of life of many thousands of people with disabilities and their families. CanAssist develops customized technologies for people of all ages and from across the disability spectrum. Examples of custom technologies developed by CanAssist include motorized tablet mounts, caregiver intercoms, and the Waveband music therapy app.

New Research on CORE

• [Report] Long-term care for older people: package for universal health coverage (World Health Organization)
• [Project Summary] Accessibility in the Canadian Shelter System (Employment and Social Development Canada)
• [Website] Mobility Access Participation Project (Mobility Access Participation Project)

New Journal Articles

Open Access Articles: Articles that are free and accessible to the general public.

Breen, K., Ru, S., Vandeweghe, L., Chiu, J., Heyland, L., & Wu, H. (2024). “If somebody needed help, I went over”: Social capital and therapeutic communities of older adult farmers in British Columbia floods. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-024-00558-6

This study explored the experiences of older adult farmers in British Columbia after a major flood that occurred in 2021 in the Fraser Valley. Interviews were conducted with 17 farmers at 3 and 11 months post-floods. The farmers discussed how they used their social capital (strong social networks) to aid in their recovery efforts and supported each other to cope with the aftermath of the floods. A key takeaway message of the article is that older adults should not be viewed solely as vulnerable in disaster situations, as they can also be significant assets in disaster settings.

Fenton, M. R., Hoppmann, C. A., Boger, J., Dalton, B. H., Komisar, V., Sakakibara, B. M., & Jakobi, J. M. (2024). Growing Older at Home: Canadians’ Meaning of Aging in Place. Journal of Aging and Environment, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/26892618.2024.2329869

In this study Fenton and colleagues collected feedback from older Canadians about what aging in place means to them. The authors collected data via an online survey (n=489) and focus groups (n=19). In the survey responses, 70% of respondents indicated they had heard of the term aging in place. From the focus groups, the following themes emerged: the desire to age with choice, importance of the built and social environments for aging in place, need for effective communication and access to information, and the need for more funding to support aging in place supports (e.g., health care services).

Henning-Smith, C., Tuttle, M., Tanem, J., Jantzi, K., Kelly, E., & Florence, L. C. (2024). Social Isolation and Safety Issues among Rural Older Adults Living Alone: Perspectives of Meals on Wheels Programs. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 36(2), 282–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2022.2081025

In this study the authors collected survey data from 42 meals on wheels programs in rural communities in the USA. Cross-cutting themes that emerged from the research included the challenges of rural environments (e.g., long distances, inclement weather), infrastructure gaps (e.g., housing quality, internet and technology access, road conditions), insufficient funding and resource availability, and service provision (e.g., availability of health care and partner organizations).