The COVID-19 pandemic created a shift in interprofessional education (IPE) courses, causing programs to change pedagogical approaches. We sought to examine student preferences for taking IPE simulations. On post-simulation surveys from two courses (n=844 students, 2020-2022 academic years), we asked students if they preferred to take the simulation through a synchronous in-person or virtual format.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: The concept of aging in place is acknowledged as the preference of older adults, yet without consideration of the intersections of diversity in later life, it is critiqued as unattainable, unrealistic, or even undesirable. This gave rise to the exploration of what is needed to age in the right place (AIRP). Building on existing research, we examined the meaning of AIRP to older adults (aged 55+ years) who have experienced homelessness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic required rapid changes to physical, social, and technological environments. There is a need to understand how independent-living older adults are adapting to pandemic-borne transformations of place and how environmental factors may shape experiences of aging well in the context of a public health emergency response.
Research Design And Methods: We conducted a photovoice study to examine the characteristics associated with aging in place.
Ageism remains a key issue in gerontological literature and has long been recognized as a deeply harmful form of discrimination. Despite advances in ageism scholarship related to education, advocacy, and prevention, there are calls for ongoing intersectional examinations of ageism among minority groups and across older people facing multiple exclusions. In particular, very little ageism research has considered the experiences of age-based discrimination and prejudice among older people experiencing homelessness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: To sufficiently house and support persons experiencing homelessness (PEH), deeper understandings of the cultural appropriateness and responsiveness of community resources and the service delivery system is essential. In the case of Metro Vancouver, Canada, the cultural appropriateness and responsiveness of Housing First as a service model for supporting PEH was explored.
Methods: Local service providers and stakeholders (n = 52) participated in three full day service-mapping workshops to identify Housing First supports for older adults, youth, and women experiencing homelessness, as part of a municipal-wide participatory and action-oriented study.
The provision and siting of homeless emergency shelters have community-wide implications for addressing the needs of people experiencing homelessness (PEH). In Utah, Salt Lake County's transition from a large, centralized emergency shelter sited in a free transit zone to a decentralized scattered-site model outside of a no-cost transit zone provided the context to evaluate how transportation access and mobility patterns of PEH were affected as they were displaced from a centralized service network in a downtown core. We conducted 19 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with PEH aged 18 + who were staying in one of three distributed resource centers who had also previously stayed at the former centralized shelter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFormal and informal networks of resources are critical to supporting the growing number of older adults aging in place (AIP). Data are needed from aging-service providers about assets and barriers that impact their abilities to support AIP during the pandemic, as well as emergent needs resulting from response measures. A series of World Café workshops were conducted with aging-service providers in Salt Lake City, Utah, to understand supportive factors, service gaps, and future needs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
January 2023
Research on programs offering senior-specific housing supports and enabling "aging in the right place" (AIRP) for "older persons with experiences of homelessness" (OPEH) is limited. This paper presents an environmental assessment of a "transitional housing program" (THP) in Metro Vancouver, Canada, for OPEH to AIRP. Data were collected using Aging in the Right Place Environmental (AIRP-ENV) and Secondary Observation (AIRP-ENV-SO) audit tools designed to evaluate multi-unit housing for OPEH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite steady increases in homelessness in the U.S., only recently has research on transportation needs and use for persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) been the focus of research endeavours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOlder people with experiences of homelessness (OPEH) tend to experience more complex health, social, and psychological issues than people experiencing homelessness at younger ages. Simultaneously, many housing resources (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile policies and practices that promote aging in place have risen in prominence over the last two decades, marginalised older adults have largely been overlooked. 'Aging in the right place' is a concept that recognises the importance of adequate and appropriate age-related health and psychosocial supports in shelter/housing settings and their impact on the ability of older people to age optimally. To understand the unique shelter/housing challenges and solutions that affect aging in the right place for older people experiencing homelessness (OPEH), we conducted three World Café workshops in three Canadian cities-Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAging in place may not be a universally optimal goal nor accessible to all. Research has highlighted the significance of aging in the right place (AIRP) by recognizing that secure housing for older adults should support one's unique vulnerabilities and lifestyles. Despite the evolving conceptualization of AIRP for general populations of older adults, considerations of AIRP relevant for older people with previous or current experiences of homelessness are absent from the existing literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Older persons with lived or living experience of homelessness (PWLEs) often live with complex physical and/or mental health conditions which are challenged by poor access to health services, especially primary care. To fill the gap in the continuum of care following hospital discharge for PWLEs, medical respite provides health and shelter support for PWLEs who do not have acute care needs that qualify for a stay in a hospital bed, yet are too sick or frail to recover on the streets or in a traditional shelter.
Objective: This study examines how a medical respite could be designed for older PWLEs in Metro Vancouver, BC.
The purpose of this study was to update our understandings of older adults' experiences and perceptions of alcohol use. Taking a community-based research approach, three Knowledge Café workshops hosted 66 older adults and service providers in Vancouver, BC. Thematic analysis identified three overarching categories: (a) reasons older adults use alcohol, including out of habit, social expectations, or to self-medicate; (b) personal experiences of alcohol use, including reduced consumption over time as a result of the cost of alcohol, the physical effects, and increased knowledge about the effects of alcohol; and (c) older adults' perceptions of alcohol use outcomes, including positive outcomes from drinking in moderation and negative outcomes that can worsen one's health, lead to tolerance, and harm others.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGerontol Geriatr Educ
September 2021
Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is an increasingly common, under-recognized, and under-treated health concern in older adults. Its prevalence is expected to reach unprecedented levels as the Canadian population ages. In response, Health Canada commissioned the Canadian Coalition of Seniors' Mental Health to create guidelines for the prevention, screening, assessment, and treatment of AUD in older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite widespread use and acceptance of alcohol, discussions of age-related changes that impact alcohol consumption behaviors are rare. The objective of this community-engaged qualitative research study was to gain insight into how to promote knowledge dissemination regarding newly developed low-risk drinking guidelines for older adults. A convenience sample of 66 older adults and service providers participated in three Knowledge Café dialogue workshops and discussed their opinions about alcohol use in later life and ideas for sharing alcohol-related research evidence with the community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To identify associations between modifiable risk factors (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity) and financial hardship (difficulty paying bills, food insecurity and medication need) among middle-aged and older Americans in a nationally representative sample.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 8212 persons age 50 years and older who completed the core 2010 Health and Retirement Study survey and the psychosocial questionnaire. We ran separate multinomial logistic regressions to assess the association of three modifiable risk factors and three different financial hardship indicators.
Eval Program Plann
August 2019
Objectives: To understand the experience of Metro Vancouver's Homelessness Partnering Strategy-funded Housing First program and how it is functioning from the perspective of a representative sample of providers and clients who deliver and receive HF services.
Methods: Thirty-four clients and providers who currently or formerly delivered HF in Metro Vancouver participated in one-on-one interviews (n = 26) or focus groups (n = 8) between March and April 2017 and data were thematically analyzed.
Results: Strengths of the HF program included: the ability to transition persons from the street into housing with individualized service supports and, in certain cases, with 12-month rent subsidies, household goods, and connection to community resources.
This article describes the experience and process of using community mapping as a tool for collecting data on the functioning of housing-related support services in Metro Vancouver. We outline our mapping methods and discuss strengths and challenges encountered during workshops aimed at understandings how the system of housing-related supports function. Strengths were that workshops provided a forum for social participation and engagement.
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