2020-04-15-GRC_News-issuu

GRC NEWS

Spring 2020

Director’s Message

3–4

EVENTS

Pages 8 –10

PEOPLE

Pages 11–17

Lun Li

12

Daniel R. Y. Gan

13

Award for MA Student

14

John R. Best

15

Holly Lemme

16

Shelby Elkes

17

COMMENTARY

Pages 18–29

Aging-in-the-Right-Place

19–20

Fact Book on Aging

21

Dementia Care for Immigrants

22–24

Aging Offenders

25–26

The GRC serves as a focal point for research,

education and information on

individual and population aging, are active

in local, national, and international

events and conferences, and maintains

an active publications program.

Community Gerontology

27–28

Home Experiences

29–30

2 GRC NEWS: SPRING 2020

From the Director: The GRC During the Covid-19 Crisis

On behalf of the GRC, I want to

extend sincere thanks to everyone for

contributing to the COVID-19 response,

particularly those of you who provide

health care and community supports

to older adults, especially the most

vulnerable living in long-term care and

congregate housing. The vision of the

GRC is to enhance the quality of life

and well-being of older adults and to

promote system-level adaptation as

we move into the most rapid period

of population aging in the history of

Canada. We prioritize community-based

knowledge translation and outreach in

the policy and practice arenas, including

government, NGOs, the private sector,

and other service organizations.

GRC research projects address

individual and population health through

enhancing individual, family and community

resilience; innovations in health and

community care; age-friendly environmental

modifications in community

living and long-term care; and technological

innovation. These areas are

even more important in the COVID-19

era. The GRC leads several research

programs on resilience, meaning how

and why some individuals bounce

back from adversity or do better than

expected. This research includes foci

on topics such as multimorbidity, mental

health, mobility, disasters, and family

resilience. In addition, given physical

distancing, social isolation and its

intersection with resilience processes

are of primary importance for older

adults to maximize their health and

well-being during the COVID-19 crisis.

There are a number of

COVID-19-related projects percolating

at the GRC and connected to the

Department of Gerontology. The GRC

oversees two data collection sites at

SFU supporting the collection of multidisciplinary

data for the Canadian Longitudinal

Study of Aging (CLSA) platform.

The CLSA is a large, national, long-term

study of more than 51,000 individuals

who were between the ages of 45 and

85 when recruited. These participants

will be followed until 2033 or death. The

aim of the CLSA is to find ways to help

us live long, live well, and understand

why some people are adapting better

than others. Data collected range from

blood specimens for genetic research

and health measures, to demographic,

psychological, and sociological information.

A CLSA COVID-19 study started

in late April and will include either a

web-based or phone interview that will

be linked to regular CLSA data. We will

collect data on COVID-19 and adaptation

to the crisis among the CLSA

participants who are now about 50 to

90 years of age. Projects at the GRC will

examine the influence of social isolation

and resilience among older adults,

and the role of technologies and social

innovations during the pandemic phases.

Seniors are a highly diverse, and

generally, healthy, engaged and active

group, especially in BC. Yet, certain

older adults are the most affected by

COVID-19, in terms of both rates of

infection and of negative outcomes,

especially mortality. The most vulnerable

older adults are those living in congregate

living environments, including

long-term care, supportive housing or

assisted living. However, many seniors

living in the community also face severe

challenges meeting their basic needs,

such as shopping for food, medications,

and health care. Again, the most vulnerable

are at particular risk – seniors with

physical or mental health challenges,

mobility restrictions, caregivers, those

living alone, the poor, and those experiencing

social isolation at high levels.

I am also concerned about the

COVID-19 accentuating ageism in

society. Some people have expressed

the view that it is a “seniors’ problem”

and as such that we should not

shut down the economy and society

to the level that has occurred. Unfortunately,

these ideas are based

on faulty premises and internalized

biases that need to be corrected.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted

in our gerontology communities coming

together to harness our resources.

Families, friends, and many community

groups, often relying on volunteers (including

gerontology students), are providing

supports to seniors to meet basic

needs in a safe manner. While there are

technological solutions available to assist

people to remain connected to others,

there is a digital divide, such that many

older adults do not have access to or

the ability to use smart phones, computers,

etc. Low-tech solutions such as

using the phone may be more effective

in reaching the most vulnerable older

adults, like those who live in isolation.

The BC government, health authorities,

and NGOs are also making important

steps to serve the needs of seniors

during the COVID-19 crisis. For example,

policy changes to restrict health

workers from working at more than

one long-term care facility, and ramped

up testing of these workers is reducing

the risk and spread of the disease, which

is particularly prevalent in these facilities.

So what can all of us do? First and

foremost, staying safe while meeting

basic needs (obtaining healthy food,

medications, and health services, as well

as keeping active) is paramount. As this

pandemic continues, the likelihood of

experiencing chronic stress, depression,

and anomie will increase. We need to

continue to develop innovative ways

to provide the necessary supports to

older adults most at risk. Most older

adults are healthy and were previously

socially connected; however, in the

COVID era, like everyone else, they

face the adverse effects of stress and

isolation. Social problems that many

older people currently face, such as

elder abuse, social isolation, loneliness,

mental health issues, and spousal

caregiving burden, will be adversely

affected by COVID-19. But we also need

to learn from the pandemic. How and

why do some older adults adapt and

thrive better than others? It is amazing

how adaptive people can be under extremely

stressful circumstances. Indeed,

there is opportunity for growth. These

lessons will be valuable as we prepare

for future pandemics and/or disasters.

There are many ways to help, some

of which are yet to be fully realized.

Many organizations providing supports

and services are underfunded. Donations

of money or volunteering in a

safe but helpful manner is invaluable to

these programs. Thinking outside of the

box is key, for instance, some libraries

have donated tablets to seniors with

simple instructions so that they can

connect to the digital world. People can

even do small things. Keeping positive

and sharing that optimism can be as

contagious as COVID-19. Just saying

hello to someone taking a walk (at an

appropriate distance) can go a long way.

Of course, research will

help to carve the path forward,

and the GRC is committed.

We are in this together, so everyone

needs to contribute to the

best of their ability. This is, in part,

why BC is a leader in COVID-19

response and recovery.

Keep safe and healthy,

Andrew Wister, Director, GRC

E

V

E

N

T

S

SFU Gerontologists

in Xi’an China

In September 2019, Professors Andrew Wister and Barbara Mitchell

were international invited speakers at the “Frontiers in Aging and

Health Research” and “Population and Development Policy” Lecture

Series” organized by the Centre for Aging and Health Research, Institute

for Population and Development Studies , Xi’an Jiaotong University

in Xi’an China.

Also pictured are Professor Shuzhuo Li, Director, Centre for Aging and

Health (bottom middle); Professor Ping Wang, Director, Institute for

Aging Society Development Studies, Xi’an University of Science and

Technology (centre middle); and Professor Zachary Zimmer, CRC

Tier 1 in Global Aging and Community, Mount Saint Vincent University

(top).


From left to right: Andrew Wister, GRC Director; Merril Silverstein, Prof. Syracuse University; Barbara Mitchell, Prof. SFU; Shuzhuo

Li, Director, Centre for Aging and Health, Jiaotong University; Victor Chan, Director, Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and

Education, Vancouver. Photo taken following Dr. Silverstein’s free public lecture on population aging in China.

From left to right: Deborah Carr, Prof. Boston University; Janine Wiles, Prof. University of Auckland; Gill Windle, Prof. Boston

University; Andrew Wister, GRC Director; Theodore D. Cosco, Assistant Prof. SFU. Photo taken following the 2019 Friesen Conference.


Clockwise from top left: 1–2. Presentation of the Seniors Leadership

Award by Professor Emerita Gloria Gutman. 3. Holly

Lemme receiving an award from the Royal Canadian Legion.

4. Atiya Mahmood with representative from North Shore Eldercollege.

5. Gerontology donor Lorna Court receiving recognition

from SFU. 6. Gerontology graduate students Eireann

O’Dea, Kelly Teo, and Ryan Churchill with a representative

from the BC Old Age Pensioners Society. 7. Gloria Gutman

and Andrew Wister with Steven Robinovitch —presenter of this

year’s Ellen M. Gee Memorial Lecture.

In Memoriam

Zheng Wu (1960-2019) passed away on 27 August in Victoria,

British Columbia after a short period of illness. He was Professor

of Gerontology and Tier I Canada Research Chair in Aging

and Health at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British

Columbia. He was Professor of Sociology at University of Victoria

(1992-2018) and past Chair of the Sociology Department

(2006-2011), and past President of Canadian Population Society

(2008-2010).

Zheng’s research interests reached across numerous

demographic and gerontological topics, with a long-standing

interest in family demography over the life course. His recent

research program addressed emerging patterns of aging populations

in Canada and China, focusing on union formation

and dissolution in later life, and physical and psychological

wellbeing of older adults. His other research areas included

immigration, social integration, and race and ethnicity. Zheng

was an accomplished educator and scholar. Over his career, he

published over 100 books, edited volumes, chapters in books

and peer-reviewed journal articles. Zheng is survived by his wife

Lanjing Li, brother Jun and sister Fei.

This comes as a tremendous shock and a great loss

for his family, the gerontology department, SFU, the Canadian

demography community, and the wider academic community.

Zheng was a terrific colleague and friend who emoted the highest

level of integrity, diligence, humility and kindness. He was a

remarkable individual who was always willing to share his enthusiasm

for investigating cutting-edge research questions and his

incredible technical expertise with students and colleagues. We

will celebrate his life, his inspiration, and legacy.


PEOPLE

Lun Li

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Lun Li, and I am a doctoral

graduate from the Faculty of Social

Work at the University of Calgary. I recently

joined the GRC as a post-doctoral

research fellow in Health and Aging. I

gained my bachelor degree in social work

and a master degree in sociology from

Fudan University, China.

My research work focuses on gerontology,

and currently I am working on

several projects, including mental health

outcomes of employed family caregivers,

family caregiving and social isolation, civic

participation among senior immigrants,

and so on. Besides, I will develop more

studies using the Canadian Longitudinal

Study on Aging soon.

What led to your interest in aging/

older adults?

I realized my interest and passion in

working with aging people when I was

in my undergraduate program. During

the BSW program, I did

my practicum in a nursing

home supporting new

residents and care providers.

That experience

inspired me to think

about the meaning of

health, wellness, and happiness

among aging people. Then, I was

involved in some work related to service

delivery and program evaluation in daycare

centres for seniors. As a result of

working in the nursing home and daycare

centres for seniors, I figured out my life

long career passion in supporting aging

people to have a healthy, active and successful

later life.

What interests do you have outside of

your research?

I like sports a lot, and I enjoy every minute

watching the Blue Jays game, the EPL

soccer games, and some NFL games. I am

also a fan of outdoor activities, such as

jogging, fishing and hiking.

Where were you working prior to the

GRC?

During my doctoral program, I worked

as a sessional instructor for my faculty,

and I taught social work courses both

in the classroom and online. I am also a

Learning Technology Coach for the Virtual

Learning program, supporting instructors

better deliver the curriculum and

facilitating students to navigate the online

learning environment.

Besides my doctoral study and teaching, I

also volunteer in different social service

agencies, such as Bissell Centre, Edmonton

Senior Protection Partnership, Caregiver

Alberta, Alzheimer Society of PEI,

and so on. I always want to contribute

back to the community, and enjoy working

with them.

What are your hopes for the field of

gerontology/the world?

Population aging is a global trend, and

more work will be done for aging people

in academia, in the workplace, in the

community, and at home, etc. I am glad

and proud of being in the field of gerontology.

I believe the whole society is

changing and adjusting for the needs of

aging people, such as transportation, employment,

housing, social activity, caregiving,

to name a few. My sincerest hope is

that in the future, aging people can enjoy

barrier-free later life without worrying

about accessibility, discrimination, or other

barriers limiting their quality of life.


Daniel R. Y. Gan

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Daniel is Real Estate Foundation Postdoctoral

Fellow at the Gerontology

Research Centre, SFU, and founder and

community planner of Healthy Ageing in

Place, a nonprofit. He completed a PhD

in urban design/environmental gerontology

at the National University of

Singapore, where he studied the impact

of older adults’ neighbourhood experiences

on their psychosocial wellbeing

via quantitative and qualitative methods.

Prior to that, Daniel worked as an

architect to facilitate community-based

interventions with the Urban Redevelopment

Authority of Singapore.

He has published in Housing & Society

and The Gerontologist. Daniel served

as an assistant managing editor of the

Journal of Population Ageing, Oxford Institute

of Population Ageing, and reviewers

for Journal of Gerontology: Social

Sciences, Journal of Population Ageing,

Social Science Research, and Housing &

Society. He obtained the NUS Graduate

Research Scholarship, MND EDGE

Mid-term Scholarship,

and ASEAN Undergraduate

and Pre-University

Scholarships, and has

presented his research

in Chicago, Guangzhou,

London, Oxford and

Singapore. At NUS Architecture, Daniel

co-taught master-level courses Urban

Design Theory and Praxis, and Urban

Planning Studio. Daniel was awarded the

AAA Travel Prize for best essay in History

and Theory of Modern Architecture,

and was global student delegate to the

Chicago Forum on Global Cities 2018.

He is proficient in mixed methods

research design, questionnaire survey,

scale development, factor analysis, regression

analysis, path analysis, structural

equation modelling using Stata, ArcGIS

and QGIS, and comparative thematic

analysis. He blogs at https://blog.nus.edu.

sg/healthyageinginplace . His research

interest is in community gerontology.

Twitter @daniel_gry .

Marissa Stalman (Gerontology MA Student)

Named One of Nine 2019 Women Influencers

On November 17th 2019 nine

women, chosen from over 100 nominations

from the community, were

recognized for their outstanding

contributions to making a positive

difference in the Tri-Cities, Maple Ridge,

and Pitt Meadows. Nominated by other

community members and judged by

an independent committee, winners

were selected in nine categories. I

was fortunate enough to take home

the Community Steward Award.

The awards were created in 2017

by Women’s Collaborative Hub Society

Co-Founders Sandra Horton, Dana

Harvey, and Trish Mandewo to address

an issue that was consistently raised in

the World Cafe style events run by their

organization: personally and professionally,

women lack self-confidence

in their abilities and contributions.

As someone who lives with persistent

chronic pain and depression, I

am not always able to give back to my

community in the ways I would like.

After being trained as a visiting hospice

volunteer, I had to face the hard reality

that, because of my own physical pain,

I was unable to be fully present with

hospice residents. As much as I loved

visiting, the role was not the right fit for

me. Luckily, I was still able to volunteer

with Ridge Meadows Hospice

Society (RMHS) after being elected

to their Board of Directors in 2015.

During my 4-year term with RMHS,

I served in many roles including Board

President. I found my niche as a Director

and came to realize my interests

spanned fund development, strategic

planning, policy, and evaluation. I feel

strongly that, by collaborating with

researchers and students, not-for-profit

organizations can collect and document

evidence about the importance

of services they provide. More and

more funders and decision-makers

are expecting this empirical data.

I’ve also volunteered with Maple

Ridge’s Dementia-Friendly Communities

Task Group and was recently elected

Vice President of the BC Hospice

Palliative Care Association’s (BCHP-

CA) Board of Directors. Board work

brings with it all sorts of unique and

exciting opportunities. In September I

was invited to present to a room full

of hospice society administrators and

volunteers from across B.C. about “Hospice

Palliative Care for Persons Living

With Dementia and their Families”.

What being a graduate student

with SFU’s Gerontology Department

has allowed me to do is develop my

passion and experience into an ever-evolving

expertise. My capstone

project, supported by my Supervisor

Dr. Habib Chaudhury, will look specifically

at advancing hospice palliative

care for persons living with dementia.

Moreover, I am very grateful to

Dr. Sharon Koehn who has invited me,

three years in a row, to deliver my

guest lecture about Canadian Hospice

Palliative Care to her undergraduate

students. Last year, one of the students

approached me after my lecture and

asked: “how can I get involved in hospice

volunteering?” For me, that is what it

is all about—sharing knowledge and

experience in new ways that inspire.

I plan to continue contributing

to efforts to make hospice palliative

care more accessible to all Canadians.

Currently less than 30% of Canadians

receive high-quality hospice

palliative care but and 95% of dying

Canadians would benefit from it. As

a gerontologist, former nurse, and

care partner, I believe I bring a unique

perspective to tackling this issue.


John R. Best

University Research Associate

Can you tell us a little bit about

yourself?

I am from a small city in the eastern

part of Tennessee, near the Smokey

Mountains National Park. Knoxville is

the ‘big city’ close by, where you’d go to

feel fancy. Like BC, east Tennessee has

lots of outdoor activities to offer, so I

did a fair amount of swimming in rivers

and lakes and hiking growing up. After

graduating from high school, I spent

some time in Atlanta and then Athens,

Georgia as part of my undergraduate

and graduate training. I did a postdoctoral

fellowship in St. Louis, Missouri

before moving to Vancouver on 2013.

What led to your interest in aging/

older adults?

It’s been a bit of a circuitous route.

During my PhD studies and first

postdoctoral fellowship, I conducted

research in children, mainly focused on

cognitive development and health behaviours.

Somewhat by chance, I landed

a postdoctoral fellowship at the University

of British Columbia, working with

Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose. Her work addresses

similar questions but focused on

the other end of the lifespan. I’ve come

to realize the aging is a lifespan developmental

process and thus, experiences

early in life may impact aging trajectories.

This perspective has helped fuse

these research experiences together.

What interests do you have outside

of your research?

My passion is cycling, both on the road

and on the trail. I also enjoy reading,

ideally accompanied by a cup of coffee

during the day and a hoppy IPA-style

beer in the evening.

Where were you working prior to

the GRC?

I was a research associate in the Aging,

Mobility, and Cognitive Neuroscience

lab at the University of British Columbia,

and I was working under the direction

of Teresa Liu-Ambrose, PhD.

What type of research were you

undertaking there?

Our ‘bread and butter’ was conducting

randomized controlled trials to investigate

the impact of physical exercise and

other lifestyle behaviours on cognitive

performance and the neural correlates

of cognitive performance. Because trials

of this nature can take a long time to

complete, I additional looked at existing

databases, for example, the US-based

Health, Aging, and Body Composition

study, to address related questions on

the interconnections among cognitive

aging, health behavior, and physical

functioning.

What are your goals for your time at

the GRC?

To continue investigating cognitive

aging, and more generally, the notion of

resiliency in aging, which includes the

maintenance of cognitive health as one

gets older. I also look forward to working

with GRC researchers – e.g., Drs.

Cosco and Wister – to consider how

cognitive resiliency and mental health

resiliency relate to one another.

Holly Lemme

MA Student

What brought you to SFU Gerontology?

I graduated from my undergrad in urban

and regional planning in 2015, and began

working in land use planning/real estate

development for a seniors housing provider.

I lead site selection and analysis

for new housing projects; from highly independent

seniors apartments through

to retirement homes offering memory

care for older adults experiencing cognitive

decline and/or dementia. I quickly

became fascinated with the experiences

and the lives of older adults, particularly

related to the built environment and

different housing contexts. After reading

several texts by M. Powell Lawton and

colleagues, and beginning a certificate

program in aging and gerontology, I

knew this was a field I was dedicated to

and wanted to pursue further.

What are your research interests?

I am interested in understanding how

aspects of the built environment and

different forms of housing support (or

hinder) a high quality of life for older

adults. It has been well documented that

older adults want to age in place - or

stay in their familiar homes and neighbourhoods

as long as possible. How

can we ensure that the places people

live are appropriate for the enjoyment

of life, adequately meeting the physical,

cognitive, and social needs of older

adults who live there?

What are you looking forward to in

your first year here?

Being immersed in a community of

students, researchers, and faculty who

are dedicated to the field of gerontology

has been so refreshing! With a

background in urban planning, I often

get asked the question “How did you

end up in gerontology?” - There is no

need for that question (or answer)

here. Finding a group of individuals with

shared interests in this field is one of

the greatest aspects of my first year in

the masters program.

What are you hoping to do when you

complete your MA in Gerontology?

I’d like to contribute in whatever way

possible to improving the quality of life

of older adults. Continuing a career in

the seniors housing sector is something

I am looking forward to, with an enhanced

appreciation and understanding

of older adults’ diverse perspectives and

experiences.


Shelby Elkes

MA Student

I always knew I wanted to collaborate

and work in the health and aging

sector, deciding on a profession however

was not as obvious. Growing up in

the small town of Drumheller Alberta,

I was lucky enough to live a bike ride

away from both sets of grandparents

and their siblings (keeping in mind that

you can bike across the entire length of

Drumheller in 30–45 minutes). I spent

my weekends and summers gardening

in their backyards, sharing tables

at pancake breakfast halls and keenly

listening to their heated gossip about

someones-sisters-friends-brother who

didn’t invite them to their wedding,

over ice cream. As I entered my teenage

years, I often humbly teased that I spent

more time with them than my own

generation, and I preferred it that way.

After completing my degree in

Psychology, I moved to Vancouver to

experience the “mild winters” everyone

excitedly talked about back home

(and for the record, being able to go

outside 12 months of the year without

your face stinging, is still a surreal

experience for me). While here, I began

searching for educational opportunities

to pursue work focused on improving

quality of life for aging adults. I

started leaning towards rehabilitation

programs, like Occupational Therapy,

as it focused on the adaption of the

environment to suit individual needs.

and the US, I came across one that

coupled the Masters program with

a certificate in Gerontology. Never

having heard of the field, I explored it

further – and that’s when everything

fell into place. It was exactly what I had

been searching for all this time. With

renewed excitement, I found the MA

Gerontology program here at Simon

Fraser University and the rest is history.

I’m only one month in, and already

I’m incredibly inspired and grateful to be

surrounded by the research and passion

each staff, student and faculty member

exudes for this field everyday. My broad

research focus is on modifying the built

environment to facilitate accessibility

and mobility within the community and

home, to further support aging in place.

I have special interests in the implementation

of assistive gerontechnology as

well as policy and program development

within communities. Moving forward,

I’m excited to build my theoretical and

practical knowledge in Gerontology, as

well as embrace

the many

networking

opportunities I

hope to encounter

in both the

community and

education sector.

One day while researching the

various OT programs across Canada

COMMENTARY


Discovering Promising Practices To

Support Aging-In-The-Right-Place For

Older Persons Experiencing Homelessness:

Highlights From A Regional World Café

By Joe Humphries, Sarah Canham, PhD and Atiya Mahmood, PhD

The numbers of older adults experiencing

homeless is on the rise in

Canada (Gaetz, Dej, & Richter, 2016), yet

housing options that support the varied

and often complex needs of this population

are scarce (Serge & Gnaedinger,

2003). To address this important gap,

Drs. Sarah Canham and Atiya Mahmood

have teamed up with researchers at the

University of Calgary, McGill University,

and Université du Québec à Montréal

and secured Phase 1 funding for a Partnership

Development Grant to build inter-

and intra-city capacity between the

housing and health sectors in Montreal,

Calgary, and Vancouver. With a team of 8

co-applicants, over 25 community partners,

and persons with lived experience

of homelessness across three cities, the

aim is to learn from each context in

order to identify, evaluate, and scale up

promising practice models that prevent

and address later-life homelessness.

This one-year grant, funded

through a joint initiative of the Canadian

Mortgage and Housing Corporation

(cmhc) and the Social Sciences and

Humanities Research Council (sshrc),

responds to a call from Canada’s

National Housing Strategy to better

meet the housing needs of all Canadians.

One key priority of the National

Housing Strategy is housing for those

in greatest need, which includes older

persons experiencing homelessness.

Project tasks include an environmental

scan of existing promising

practice housing models that support

aging-in-the-right-place for older persons

with lived experience of homelessness

(pwles) in Montreal, Calgary, and

Vancouver, as well as a scoping review

of the literature on supportive housing

practices for older pwles. Additionally, a

World Café is being conducted in each

city to bring together shelter/housing,

service, and health providers with older

pwles to have discussions about promising

practices that have been identified

through the environmental scan.

A World Café is a participatory

research method that brings together a

group of people in an informal, café-like

setting to have an open and creative

conversation, to share collective knowledge,

ideas, and insights, and to gain a

deeper understanding of the subject

and the issues involved (Brown, Homer,

& Isaacs, 2009). The Vancouver-based

World Café was held on June 6, 2019

at the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship

Centre Society. Using structured, casual

conversation, participants engaged in

discussions on promising practices

that support aging-in-the-right-place

for older PWLEs in Metro Vancouver.

Participants first ‘discovered’ what

currently exists, then ‘dreamed’ about

what could exist, and then brainstormed

on how to ‘design’ solutions and ensure

that these become ‘destiny’. Thirty-six

participants attended the 3-hour workshop

– 18 providers and 18 older pwles.

Workshop participants built upon

and critiqued the promising practices

identified in the preliminary environmental

scan and highlighted other

promising practices not yet identified.

pwle perspectives were critical to

these discussions as they spoke to the

experience of being a program participant

or living in the housing models that

were the topics of discussion. Bringing

together providers and pwles widened

the breadth of insights and enhanced

the opportunity for collaboration and

networking. Based on evaluations of

the workshop, participants’ feedback

was positive. One attendee reported,

“I loved the fact that people are

wanting to make a difference in helping,

or ideas that can be useful.” Another

participant commented, “There are

a lot of people that have had similar

situations and are dealing with same

problems. If we work together we

can change the way homelessness is

perceived and make positive changes.”

Two additional World Cafés are

scheduled for this Fall – one in Montreal

and one in Calgary – and we look

forward to coming together as a team

this November in Edmonton at the Canadian

Association to End Homelessness

Conference. To follow along with project

progress or for a copy of the most recent

project newsletter, please contact

the Vancouver Research Assistant Joe

Humphries, at joe_humphries@sfu.ca.


New Book: Fact Book on Aging

By Andrew Wister, PhD

We are pleased to release the 7th

edition of the Fact Book on Aging in

British Columbia and Canada (Wister,

O’Dea, Fyffe and Wagner, 2019, GRC).

The many requests that the GRC receives

each year for information about

the Province’s older population and

national comparisons provides the impetus

for its continued production that

has spanned more than three decades.

This year we are distributing

electronic and paper copies of the 7th

edition at no charge to the public. The

Fact Book provides a range of descriptive

data on a variety of topics that

showcase major demographic, health

and social patterns of older adults. The

current seventh edition of the Fact

Book is based on the 2016 Census, and

supplemented with data from national

health surveys, such as the Canadian

Community Health Surveys, and other

targeted surveys conducted in B.C.

A milestone has been reached

in that over thirty years of data have

been covered. We have also made some

selected comparisons of key patterns

across the different editions of the Fact

Book in order to highlight major trends

over time. The main comparisons of

demographic data include: geographic

comparisons between British Columbia

and Canada, as well as other provinces

in certain tables; gender differences;

and those related to age patterns, such

as comparisons between middle-aged

and older persons or among senior age

groups, as well as differences over time.

Topics highlighted in the 7th edition

cover a wide range of areas including:

the size and historical rate of growth

of the elderly population of British

Columbia; trends in life expectancy,

mortality rates and causes of death; the

marital status of the elderly population;

its geographic distribution and residential

mobility; ethnic composition; a

description of living arrangements and

housing; education, employment, and

economic status; disabilities; diet and

physical activity; and health service utilization.

It is hoped that this monograph

contributes to gerontological knowledge,

practice and policy in efforts to

promote well-being over the life course.

To read the full free pdf, visit the

GRC website at www.sfu.ca/grc.

Increasing access to dementia care

for immigrant older adults: The

Building Trust Project Launches Its

Resources on Healthy Aging CORE

By Alexis Haig, MA (C) and Sharon Koehn, PhD

On June 20th, 2019, Dr. Sharon

Koehn and the Building Trust

(BT) Team, launched their knowledge

mobilization resources on the Healthy

Aging CORE website. This concludes

a 3-year-long research and knowledge

mobilization project in partnership with

dementia-service (Alzheimer’s Society of

BC, Fraser Health) and immigrant-serving

(MOSAIC, PICS) agencies. This action

research project was entitled “Building

trust to facilitate access to dementia

care for immigrant older adults: the role

of the multicultural services sector.”

The decision to include immigrant-serving

agencies as partners

was grounded in Koehn’s previous

research, which established that these

agencies play an important role in

promoting health and social connection

among immigrant older adults.

The literature affirms that this is

because they understand the multiple

barriers and facilitators to access for

these populations, but also because

they are seen as more trustworthy.

The target populations for the

study were the Punjabi and Korean populations

in the Fraser Health region of

British Columbia. After English, Punjabi

at 8% was the second most commonly

spoken home language by seniors within

the Fraser Health region in 2016. Despite

their status as the largest minority

language group in some communities

within the Fraser Health region, Korean

speakers have received almost no

attention in the Canadian literature on

immigrant older adults, so the study

aimed to address this knowledge deficit.

Research to Explore Experiences and

Perceptions of Dementia

In Phase I of the project, Koehn’s team

studied how people from these two

communities in the Fraser Health region

understand and experience dementia

and access to dementia diagnosis and

care. Interviews with staff from all

partner agencies as well as persons with

dementia and their family care partners,

and focus groups with community members

also explored people’s perceptions

of the trustworthiness of relationships

with the people and agencies with which

they need to interact in order to either

gain or provide access to dementia

supports.

The team found that cultural views

of aging and illness in combination with

low levels of education and literacy

were sometimes barriers to recognizing

behaviours as symptoms of dementia.

Limited understanding of dementia

in both communities contributed to

stigmatization of the disease. Family involvement

can add barriers or introduce

opportunities and benefits for dementia

diagnosis and care, but some participants,

especially in the Korean community,

indicated that adult children were not

always readily available to locate services,

and provide much needed transportation

and interpretation. Koreans

were more likely than Punjabis to have

access to computers and seek out information

on the internet, but there were

fewer services in the community for

Korean speakers, compared to those for

Punjabis. Participants identified Punjabi

temples and Korean churches as important

sources of influence through which

dementia information can be conveyed.

Complimentary Knowledge and the

Value of Partnerships

Staff interviews surfaced two sets of


complimentary knowledge. Health authority

and local Alzheimer Society staff

have resources that can facilitate access

to dementia information and supports

for persons with dementia but have little

capacity to address the language and

culture-specific needs of the Punjabi and

Korean populations. Conversely, PICS

and MOSAIC staff have the capacity to

connect with and provide culturally responsive

health information and navigational

support to these populations and

to engender trust, but lack knowledge

and resources concerning dementia.

In a recently published article,

Koehn and colleagues (2019) argued

that “Partnerships between mainstream

mental health/dementia services and

the community sector have proven

successful in increasing the accessibility

of specialized resources, while maximizing

their combined trustworthiness,

accessibility and effectiveness. Such partnerships

should become fundamental

components of health service strategy

and provision for vulnerable and

underserved immigrant older adults.”

These partnerships can facilitate more

timely diagnosis and service provision to

people with dementia and their families

in Korean and Punjabi speaking communities.

The team is hopeful that they

further pave the way for additional partnerships

that can address access barriers

in other immigrant communities.1

At the conclusion of Phase I,

additional stakeholders attended a

forum in which they were engaged in

providing feedback on the findings and

prioritizing actions moving forward.

They identified increasing cultural

sensitivity and community connections

as important goals for this work.

Knowledge Mobilization Resources

Based on the research findings, BT partners

developed four pilot knowledge

mobilization initiatives, three of which

have the potential to continue to engage

both immigrant-serving (IS) and dementia

service (DS) agencies.

1. A Dementia Friends Workshop was

created to address the research finding

that dementia is little known, and its

symptoms are dismissed as ‘normal

aging’ among older Punjabi speakers.

2. A Dementia in the Workplace

curriculum was designed to introduce

newcomers attending English language

courses to the basics of dementia

and locally available resources. This

addresses the finding that younger

family members are often responsible

for health resource location and

system navigation for their parents

but lack knowledge of dementia and

familiarity with Canadian systems when

they are newcomers themselves.

3. A YouTube video to coach older Koreans

about the health system encounter

for people with dementia and their

caregivers was developed to address the

high level of dissatisfaction expressed

by Korean participants concerning their

visits to family doctors in Canada, even

when the doctor spoke Korean. Korean

older adults are familiar with and enjoy

such videos.

4. A pocket-size information card

about Alzheimer’s in Korean features

translated information from ASBC’s

pamphlet on ‘Five Things to Share about

Dementia’ and ‘Communication Strategies.

The need for such a card was iden-

tified in the data and by Korean participants

who attended our video screening.

Punjabi and Korean speaking older

adults as well as their families and

friends will benefit from the increased

resources specifically targeted at their

communities. These innovations address

gaps in knowledge specific to the

research findings. Both communities

now have tools that will help increase

their knowledge of Alzheimer’s Disease

and other dementias. The tools will

also help reduce stigma around the

disease within the Punjabi and Korean-speaking

communities. All four tools

can also be widely shared amongst

agencies, friends and family given the

accessible nature of the tools, particularly

the YouTube video and infocard.

For the Dementia Friends Presentation,

we have emphasized the crucial

nature of having the workshops at

PICS to reach Punjabi speaking older

adults: workshop participants were

drawn from among PICS clientele and

the meeting took place at their headquarters,

which is already familiar and

accessible to them. Food served at the

presentation was Punjabi food ordered

in by PICS and familiar to their clients.

The Dementia in the Workplace

curriculum is also unique because it not

only benefits the two targeted populations,

but any newcomer in Canada

that may be interested in working in the

geriatric care sector. This tool provides

newcomers with a basic understanding

of dementia and knowledge of local

dementia resources. This knowledge

can also apply to newcomers’ own

personal experiences they may have

with the disease, providing them with

the tools and resources to help their

own family and friends if necessary.

Partnering with Healthy Aging CORE

We partnered with the United Way of

the Lower Mainland (UWLM), which

has recently assumed responsibility for

a grassroots project known as Raising

the Profile. This initiative seeks to build

capacity within BC’s community-based

seniors’ sector and allied partners (e.g.

researchers, municipal governments,

etc.). The Healthy Aging CORE website

is the platform through which they hope

to achieve this goal. The intended audience

is people involved in diverse ways

in the community-based seniors’ sector

who can be conduits to the audiences

for the BT knowledge mobilization

resources. These individuals may include

other academics and policymakers in

health authorities, municipal/provincial/

federal government divisions concerned

with seniors, dementia education and

support agencies, such as ASBC, etc.

Housing our web pages on CORE

facilitates the wide dissemination

and sustainability of the resources

that our partners have created.

These are accessible regardless of

membership at Healthy Aging Core.

Additional information about the

‘Building Trust’ project can be accessed

by joining the Multicultural Supports for

Older Adults: Building Trust Resources

Group, open to CORE members (new

visitors to the CORE site need to sign

up and have their registration approved

by the site administrator before they

can access groups). These materials

include our Phase I infographic and

Appendix of findings, a 5-page overall

summary, knowledge mobilization

evaluations, slide decks, and links to

academic outputs. The group further

allows for discussion of the materials. In

the introduction to the group, we have

encouraged other organizations to use

and report on their experiences with

the resources. For all resources except

the Korean infocard, we have provided a

demographic form to allow for comparison,

since the resources may work

better for some audiences than others.

The Launch

At the launch on June 20th we brought

together key stakeholders to view the

webpages on the Healthy Aging CORE

website. This two-hour event, held at

Fraser Health offices in Surrey, began

with an introduction to the Healthy

Aging CORE site by Barbara McMillan,

of the United Way of the Lower

Mainland. PI, Dr. Sharon Koehn provided

a hands-on overview of the project and

the web-based materials, after which, we

invited our partner agencies to speak to

their experiences creating the products.

They also commented on the value

of the partnership and resulting webbased

resources. The meeting concluded

with observations from the MLA for

Burnaby-Deer Lake and Parliamentary

Secretary for Seniors, Anne Kang.

The BT team is hopeful that the

resources will be widely disseminated

and that through the tools available

for interaction on the Healthy Aging

CORE site, a community of practice

focused on the health care needs of

aging immigrants will develop. Finally,

we believe that these resources

demonstrate that for a relatively small

investment of time and money, dementia

service agencies can make great

strides toward rendering their services

more accessible to immigrant populations

through such partnerships.

*Building Trust is a research

and knowledge mobilization project

funded by the Alzheimer’s Society of

Canada’s Research Program (Grant

# 17-26) and led by Dr. Sharon

Koehn, Simon Fraser University

1. Koehn S. D., Donahue M,

Feldman F, Drummond N. Fostering

trust and sharing responsibility

to increase access to dementia care

for immigrant older adults. Ethnicity

& Health. 2019;0(0):1-17. doi:1

0.1080/13557858.2019.1655529


The Welfare of Aging Offenders:

Why Should We Care?

By Eddy Elmer, MA and Heather Campbell Pope, LL.M.

“It benefits nobody, and can carry substantial

costs in terms of safety and

money, if offenders are worse off leaving

the correctional system than they

were going in.”

The greying of Canada’s offender

population is well documented.

Offenders aged 50+ now account for

25% of the federal prison population

and about 40% of those under supervision

in the community—that is,

offenders on parole, statutory release,

or a long-term supervision order.

One big reason is the length of

sentences. Over a quarter of federal

offenders are serving a life or indeterminate

sentence, with many having

been incarcerated for several decades.

Thus, there is a continual accumulation

of ‘lifers.’ Another reason is

the rise in convictions for historical

offences (e.g., convictions for sexual

offences committed several decades

ago) and an increase in consecutive

and minimum mandatory sentences.

Compared to the general population

of older adults, aging offenders

are at greater risk for chronic health

problems and early death. In fact, while

the evidence is limited, it has been

estimated that offenders age 10-15

years faster than everyone else. This

is why Correctional Service Canada

has used age 50 as the threshold

for defining an ‘older’ offender.

The causes of accelerated aging

are unclear, but may be due to the

cumulative effects of a criminal lifestyle,

substance abuse, poor health habits,

inadequate healthcare, or factors that

increase the risk for both criminality

and poor health (e.g., poverty).

Accelerated aging could also be

due to chronic isolation and loneliness,

as research shows that both

are independent risk factors for poor

health and early mortality. Inside

prison, isolation and loneliness may

be caused by lack of meaningful social

contact; physical barriers that impede

mobility; fear of bullying from younger

inmates; and the deleterious effects of

traditional solitary confinement, which

Canada has only recently curtailed.

Incarceration can also lead to hypervigilance,

suspiciousness, and hostility,

as well as institutional dependency, apathy,

and lack of interest in the outside

world and in starting fresh. All of these

issues can interfere with the formation

and maintenance of supportive relationships

both inside and outside of prison.

Making matters worse, research suggests

that isolation and loneliness can also

cause or exacerbate these problems.

For offenders who manage to leave

prison, they may find themselves feeling

ashamed due to the stigma of a criminal

record. Believing that older offenders

are dangerous or do not deserve a

second chance, people may be reluctant

to provide them with work, housing,

or healthcare. Offenders may also find

that they cannot pick up relationships

where they left off before they entered

prison; old friends and family may have

died or moved on with their lives.

Due to stigma and self-consciousness,

offenders may have trouble forming

new relationships. Moreover, some may

have spent so many decades behind bars

that the freedom of the outside world

is overwhelming; they may self-isolate

to cope or even long for the familiarity

and consistency of prison life.

The general public may find it

difficult to sympathize with the situation

of older offenders, given that many

have served long prison terms for very

serious crimes. However, in addition to

legal and moral considerations, there

are at least two practical reasons why

their welfare should matter to us. First,

as a result of their health problems,

older offenders are very expensive to

care for, especially those with complex

conditions like dementia or who

require palliative care. Importantly, as

prisons were never designed to be

nursing homes, it is far more expensive

to meet the needs of infirm offenders

behind bars than in community settings

designed specifically for older people.

Second, while many older offenders

are generally at low risk to reoffend,

research suggests that social rejection

and loneliness can increase impulsivity

and aggression, which are risk factors

for criminal behaviour. Moreover, those

with scarce or poor-quality relationships

may find it harder to cope with

the stress of daily life and to reintegrate

into society. Those who feel that

nobody cares about them, or who

have nobody to care for, may lose the

motivation to turn their lives around.

For these two reasons alone, it

behooves us to consider the needs of

aging offenders and how we can better

support them throughout the correctional

process, especially as they prepare

to re-enter society. Although not everyone

agrees with it, one of the main goals

of corrections is to help offenders reintegrate

into society and become productive,

law-abiding citizens. It benefits

nobody, and may carry substantial costs

in terms of safety and money, if offenders

are worse off leaving the correctional

system than they were going in.

Eddy Elmer, a graduate of the gerontology

master’s program at SFU, is completing his PhD in

social gerontology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

He is also Vice-Chair of the Correctional Service

of Canada Citizen Advisory Committee for Metro

Vancouver West Community Corrections. His

views are his alone and not necessarily those

of the Citizen Advisory Committee or Correctional

Service Canada. Eddy can be reached at

eddy@eddyelmer.com. Heather Campbell Pope,

a former B.C. lawyer, is founder of Dementia

Justice Canada: www.dementiajustice.com.


Community Gerontology as an

Interdisciplinary Interdiscipline

By Daniel R. Y. Gan

Gerontology is in many ways a

prime example of an interdiscipline[1].

Here, I attempt to elucidate

the challenges and opportunities

of community gerontology[2] as an

interdisciplinary interdiscipline.

Think place

Unless you’re a bot, where you are

right now, reading this, could be a place

that you love or hate. But more likely

than not, you’re not bothered by it and

haven’t noticed it too much. That is

precisely what most places and spaces

are designed to be like. You seldom see

red floors that scream for attention.

They would be hard to match with other

colours, and everything else would

need to be so opulent if the floors were

fade into the background as they ideally

should. No designers want people falling

over each other because they were staring

at the floor. The spaces and places

in which we find ourselves usually fade

into the background. We recall the persons

we met, the conversations we had,

the activities we were engaged in, and

perhaps the emotions we felt; and if they

become associated with the particular

space, it would then qualify as a place[3].

The idea of community gerontology

has emerged from more than a decade

of age(ing)-friendly initiatives. If we

want the idea to be more specific than

Age-Friendly Cities and Communities

(AFCC) - a very inclusive umbrella term

- then we can say that it has to do with

place as we experience it with others.

Neighbourhoods are places. Communities

gather, or more typically, are

experienced in places. It’s often hard to

say where a neighbourhood begins and

ends. But places are more well-defined,

or at least we typically identify them

with some definite description. They are

where we go more or less frequently, or

where we meet particular people. In between

these places which mean something

to us, there may be other places

of little significance to us which mean

nevertheless something to someone

else. And perhaps these ‘someone elses’

turn out to be the target beneficiaries

of community-based interventions.

Think place-based research

Yet very little of our research is really

place-based. In fact, we often go out of

our way to avoid place-based research

in order to obtain a more representative

population sample. We typically

work with high-level entities cities,

countries, and regions. But with the

advent of geospatial information systems

(GIS), an increasing number of population-wide

surveys are geocoded – that

is, which means that we can move down

to a lower level of analysis based on

postal codes for the respondents’ residences.

Even so, places are seldom the

unit of analysis. We may be interested in

the individuals and how close they live

to a specific amenity type (e.g., healthy

food options), but not the neighbourhood

itself. In so doing, we reduce the

neighbourhood to a linear or network

distance between the respondent and

the amenity of interest. This is fine for

most research questions in social gerontology.

But it is not place-based in the

sense that it investigates places as these

are experienced by us or the beneficiaries

of interventions.

Places are experienced as complex,

intertwining systems. To use an ecological

illustration, not all riverbanks are

the same. Some are easier to drink from

and some are resting spots for predators.

A deer and its predator would

understand and use the same place

differently. These same spatial tactics

characterise human interactions in

residential areas of higher density, and

are being replicated almost endlessly, in

the peri-urban areas of rapidly developing

and rapidly ageing regions. Urban

ethnography would shed light on these

space use dynamics. But such rigorous

collaborations have to-date rarely

been implemented in AFCC practices.

Think place-based interventions

How then to intervene? What do we

want to achieve in intervening? Better

wellbeing? What kind of wellbeing?

How? These are the questions that

confront any community gerontologist

at some point given the limits of extant

literature in this emergent interdiscipline.

Based on a transdisciplinary

neighbourhood health framework[4],

psychosocial health would be a relevant

intermediate outcome variable of interest

for community gerontologists who

want their (co-)interventions to impact

on health inclusively understood. Here,

the interdiscipline gets more interdisciplinary.

It is one thing to notice space

and place. It is another altogether to

read them as a psychosocial terrain that,

in its present state and across different

inches or square metres, may produce

more or less health benefits for older

adults, as these would be understood by

an ‘insider’[5].

From an urban design and community

development perspective, there

is also a socio-ecological terrain to be

explored[6] in analyses of the ways in

which places or neighbourhood spaces

provide forms of communal living in the

line with the expectations of residents.

A long list of 75 modifiable aspects of

the neighbourhood was reduced to

16 telling questions based on factor

analyses, identifying communal affordance,

embeddedness or belongingness,

environment pleasantness and time

outdoors as latent factors of interest.

Community gerontologists could do

worse than focus on improving these

factors in order to facilitate neighbourhood

health processes. The challenge

lies in taking a psycho-socio-ecological

approach to intervening in communities

we hope to benefit, and articulating it.

Where is the opportunity?

Research to intervene on the relationship

between psycho-social atmosphere

and socio-ecological aspects of a neighbourhood

and older adults’ wellbeing

has only just begun[7], although the real-world

practice can be traced further

back[8]. As an interdisciplinary interdiscipline,

various perspectives that would

use the aforementioned parameters can

and should be brought to bear on community

gerontology for further, focused

development. For example, psychologists

can adapt heart coherence training[9,10]

to community settings for a

direct intervention on their psychosocial

atmosphere. This could be coupled with

design interventions to create communal

nodes[11] at appropriate locations.

The status of community gerontology as

an interdisciplinary interdiscipline is the

invitation to contribute. But cross-disciplinary

understanding is paramount for

theoretically directed advancement.

If we get the parameters right

our research, interventions and new

high-density residential developments

could do a lot to facilitate healthy ageing

in place, which means that community

gerontology could possibly ‘have enormous

public health implications’[12].

Public health interventions have tended

to focus on changing health behaviours

in a somewhat one-dimensional fashion.

But it is counterproductive to have a

deer drink from a bank that is too high

or from water infested with crocodiles

that it can see even if we do not.

Note: This article was first published

in the blog of the Oxford

Institute of Population Ageing, University

of Oxford in February 2020.

The author thanks Kenneth Howse

for his excellent editorial inputs.


Measuring Home Experiences

Across the Lifespan

By Daniel R. Y. Gan, PhD and Habib Chaudhury, PhD

The home and neighbourhood

environment play an important

role in older adults’ quality of life and

well-being. Our experiences of the

everyday environments in its built, social

and technological components may

affect psychosocial outcomes of identity

and autonomy through person-environment

interactions (Chaudhury &

Oswald, 2019; Gan, 2019). As increased

numbers of older adults are aging in

place, gerontologists seek to improve

older adults’ experiences of their home

and neighbourhood for psychological

well-being (Gan, 2019; Kylén et al., 2017).

Home helps us feel safe (cognitively),

connected (social-emotionally) and

centered (physical-behaviourally) (Öhlén

et al., 2014; Oswald & Wahl, 2005). As an

extension of one’s home, the neighbourhood

may serve as a psychosocial

resource (Gan, 2019). Together, home

and neighbourhood anchor our senses

of self and community, and contribute to

our well-being (Gan, 2019; Norris-Baker

& Scheidt, 2005; Peace, et al., 2005;

Rubinstein & de Medeiros, 2005). They

are physical and psychosocial bases from

which we operate in the world, which

may or may not include one’s workplace.

Despite the significance of home across

the life stages, and especially in later life,

there is a lack of validated measures to

assess the psychosocial aspects of this

experience for community-dwelling

older adults (cf. Molony et al., 2007).

Attempts to measure home experiences

or “at-homeness” were more common

in care settings (e.g., Halpern, et al.,

2017; Molony et al., 2007; cf. Öhlén et al.,

2014). Other attempts focused on specific

age groups in later life (e.g., Kylén

et al., 2017; Oswald, et al., 2006). These

resulted in “ceiling effect” or scales that

are not sufficiently sensitive to variances

in broader community settings.

Experiences of home and neighbourhood

are diverse even for individuals

living in the same house because

they may frequent different places, come

into contact with different people, and

because of variations in their personalities.

Nevertheless, there are common

underlying factors that shape our experiences.

For instance, factor analyses of

lists of up to 75 statements showed that

older adults’ neighbourhood experiences

are affected by community potential,

neighbourly friendship, environment

pleasantness and time outdoors (Gan,

Fung, & Cho, 2019). A good gauge of

one’s neighbourhood experiences could

be obtained by asking 16 multiple-choice

questions that has been psychometrically

validated. Studies that used this

scale have yielded relevant findings that

may guide community-based interventions.

In a study that involved more

than 270 multi-unit housing, residents

who reported better neighbourhood

experiences also reported better

psychosocial wellbeing (Gan, 2019).

Based on the Transdisciplinary

Neighbourhood Health Framework

(Gan, 2017), measuring home and neighbourhood

experiences (HoneX) would

be useful for identifying communities

that may require community gerontology

interventions (cf. Kylén et al., 2017).

This provides a systemic way forward

so interventions may be implemented

where they are most needed. Other

methods may be undertaken to obtain

community inputs, including at neighbourhood

houses and senior centres.

We plan to develop a measure

of older adults’ home and neighbour-

hood experiences (Gan, Fung, &

Cho, 2019). Drawing on Rowles

and Chaudhury’s (2005; 2008)

work on the meaning of home,

a list of 28 statements that describe

“at-homeness” in its social,

environmental and biographical

dimensions has been identified.

We are conducting an online

survey with the readership of GRC

Newsletter. Adults aged 45+ who

have lived in their present home

and community for at least one year

are invited to participate in this

survey by indicating whether they

agree with these statements from

their own experiences. The link to

participate is here: https://www.

surveymonkey.ca/r/9PZWD82 and

we will be gifting a $100 Amazon

gift card to one random participant.

Also, please feel free to share

the link with someone you know

who meets the above criteria.

To identify hidden or “latent”

variables that alter home

and neighbourhood experiences,

exploratory and confirmatory

factor analyses will be conducted.

This helps us identify factors to

be included in a short scale. Its

psychometric properties will be

examined. Convergent validity of

the home experience scale will be

assessed in relation to the neighbourhood

experiences scale.

We look forward to your

participation here: https://www.

surveymonkey.ca/r/9PZWD82.


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