Older adults in social housing: A systemically vulnerable population that needs to be prioritized.

Older adults living in social housing are a vulnerable population with unique health challenges that often lead to poor health outcomes and high emergency service utilization. However, the needs of this population are frequently overlooked. This policy note describes the characteristics of older adults living in social housing in Canada and discusses why they are a vulnerable, underserved population in need of immediate attention and priority.

Health knowledge and self-efficacy to make health behaviour changes: a survey of older adults living in Ontario social housing.

Background: Older adults living in social housing are a vulnerable population facing unique challenges with health literacy and chronic disease self-management. We investigated this population's knowledge of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus, and self-efficacy to make health behaviour changes (for example, physical activity). This study characterized the relationship between knowledge of health risk factors and self-efficacy to improve health behaviours, in order to determine the potential for future interventions to improve these traits.