Optimizing Older Adult Mental Health in Support of Healthy Ageing: A Pluralistic Framework to Inform Transformative Change across Community and Healthcare Domains.

This paper describes a pluralistic framework to inform transformative change across community and healthcare domains to optimize the mental health of older adults in support of healthy ageing. An extensive review and analysis of the literature informed the creation of a framework that contextualizes the priority areas of the WHO Decade of Health Ageing (ageism, age-friendly environments, long-term care, and integrated care) with respect to older adult mental health. The framework additionally identifies barriers, facilitators, and strategies for action at macro (social/system), meso (services/supports), and micro (older adults) levels of influence.

Can 'What Is Known' about Social Isolation and Loneliness Interventions Sufficiently Inform the Clinical Practice of Health Care and Social Service Professionals Who Work with Older Adults? Exploring Knowledge-to-Practice Gaps.

Establishing intervention effectiveness is an important component of a broader knowledge translation (KT) process. However, mobilizing the implementation of these interventions into practice is perhaps the most important aspect of the KT cycle. The purpose of the current study was to conduct an umbrella review to (a) identify promising interventions for SI&L in older adults, (b) interpret (translate) the findings to inform clinical knowledge and practice interventions in different settings and contexts, and (c) highlight research gaps that may hinder the uptake of these interventions in practice.

Associations between Gender Expression, Protective Coping Strategies, Alcohol Saliency, and High-Risk Alcohol Use in Post-Secondary Students at Two Canadian Universities.

Background: This study, conducted in October 2017 at two Canadian universities, aimed to explore the relationships between gender expression, protective coping strategies, alcohol saliency, and high-risk alcohol use.

Methods: Validated scales were employed to assess these variables using survey data. Multivariate analyses were conducted to investigate the associations between these factors and high-risk drinking.

Taking a closer look at gender-transformative health promotion programming as a vehicle for addressing gender-based inequities in health and care.

Gender-transformative health promotion addresses the reciprocal transactions between the socio-cultural contexts that shape gender-based values and the gender-normative behaviors and health experiences of individuals. A scoping review was conducted to (a) highlight how, when and under what circumstances gender-transformative health promotion is applied in practice, and (b) critically assess the operationalization of gender-transformative health promotion principles in practice to develop a clearer understanding of potential barriers (both conceptual and practical) that may detract from the broader employment of gender-transformative health promotion as a mainstream programming approach. Specific recommendations, based on the findings of this review, are made in an effort to further the operationalization of gender-transformative health promotion as a mainstream health promotion approach, globally.

'I shouldn't have had to push and fight': health care experiences of persons with dementia and their caregivers in primary care.

Objectives: Most persons with dementia (PWD) receive the majority of their care from primary care providers (PCPs). A number of challenges have been identified with providing quality dementia care in primary care from the perspective of PCP. However, less is known of the primary care health care experience (HCE) of PWD and their caregivers.

Health care experiences of people with dementia and their caregivers: a meta-ethnographic analysis of qualitative studies.

Background: Understanding the health care experience of people with dementia and their caregivers is becoming increasingly important given the growing number of affected individuals. We conducted a systematic review of qualitative studies that examined aspects of the health care experience of people with dementia and their caregivers to better understand ways to improve care for this population.

Methods: We searched the electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, PsychINFO and CINAHL to identify relevant articles.

Developing a national consensus on the accessibility needs of older adults with concurrent and chronic, mental and physical health issues: a preliminary framework informing collaborative mental health care planning.

Canada faces a significant challenge in meeting the health care needs of older adults with complex mental and physical health issues. Studies have shown collaborative mental health services to effectively address the diverse health needs of this group. However, an often overlooked yet important aspect of service delivery planning for this population is to ensure that older adults are sufficiently able to access available best-practice services.

Making it better: building evaluation capacity in community mental health.

This paper describes a province-wide initiative aimed at building the capacity of community mental health programs to participate in program evaluation and development by transferring knowledge, promoting discussion and developing resources. Active involvement of stakeholders and evaluation of the current capacity of the field informed the ongoing development of the initiative. Recovery served as a guiding framework for formulating and understanding community mental health outcomes.

Prevalence and characteristics of parenting among people served by Assertive Community Treatment.

This study examines the prevalence and the characteristics of parenting among people served by Assertive Community Treatment (ACT). Four semi-rural ACT teams in southeastern Ontario were surveyed. The findings suggest that a significant minority (38%) of persons receiving ACT services are parents, although most (84%) do not live with their children and many rarely see their children.

Substance abuse in a Canadian population of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) clients: implications for service planning and delivery.

This brief paper reports on a study that used diagnosis, client self-reports, and clinician ratings to estimate the prevalence of drug, alcohol, and tobacco abuse among a random sample of 174 clients of 4 Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in southeastern Ontario, Canada. Drug and alcohol abuse rates were lower that those reported in the literature, while high rates for tobacco use were consistent with published reports. ACT service delivery is guided by formal standards that assume high rates of substance abuse.

Direct and indirect time inputs and assertive community treatment.

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is an appealing community program model because it proposes to provide individuals with coping skills that allow them to maintain independent lives in their communities and it offers the potential to decrease inpatient stays and increase community tenure. But, it is not without its limitations. Critics point out that ACT's unique elements also make it a potentially very resource intensive program--an important consideration in times of fiscal constraints.