[Report] Healthy Aging Interventions, Programs, and Initiatives: An Environmental Scan

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Summary

• Canadians are generally living longer in good health than previous generations. However, there is still a high risk of frailty among community-dwelling older adults. With the older adult population steadily rising in Canada, it is important that effective interventions, programs, and initiatives are developed to support the healthy aging of older adults in the community.
• Most of the interventions identified from the literature review showing benefit in healthy community-dwelling older adults focused on improving mobility and balance and/or preventing falls. Several other interventions were beneficial for improving physical and cognitive function, nutrition, and quality of life, and decreasing social isolation. Vaccinations were also found to be effective for preventing influenza, herpes zoster, and pneumonia infections in older adults.
• Healthy aging in the community is being promoted across Canada through programs and initiatives delivered at the national, provincial, regional, and community level. Areas of focus include falls prevention, increasing physical activity, deprescribing, improving nutrition, decreasing social isolation, and improving access to services that allow older adults to age in place (e.g., help with yard work, housekeeping, and home repairs).
• Innovative approaches are being used across Canada to ensure that healthy aging interventions in the community are practical and sustainable given limited health care resources. Some programs and initiatives are using collaborative partnerships between diverse sectors such as government, not-for-profit, and community organizations. Others are focused on engaging older adults in the leadership, outreach, training, and delivery of healthy aging programs and initiatives.
• Some Canadian programs have been evaluated and have yielded positive results in terms of healthy aging outcomes. International evidence-based healthy aging resources are also available, some of which have been implemented in Canada.