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Addressing determinants of senior well-being and reducing social isolation

Status: Completed
Category(s): Improving Social Built Environments to Foster Healthy Aging
Lead organization: New Brunswick Community College and The University of New Brunswick - Saint John
Principal investigator(s): Dr. Kyle Brymer 
Co-investigator(s): Barry Watson

About the project:

New Brunswick has the highest share of people over 65 compared to other provinces. This group continues to grow faster than that of Canada as a whole. We sought to discover ways to improve seniors' emotional and social health and well-being in New Brunswick through experiential learning opportunities in collaboration with experts and community partners. The model could be a win-win-win that helped further the knowledge and understanding of issues related to healthy aging, provided NBCC students an opportunity to learn about issues related to healthy aging, and allowed community partners/stakeholder organizations to access additional resources for greater frontline impact.

Conclusions and Lessons Learned

  • The student-led experiential learning projects did not significantly reduce seniors’ stress related to social determinants of health.
    • This finding can perhaps be explained by the fact that the seniors who were surveyed reported low stress levels prior to participating in the project. It is also possible that participants in this sample were more financially well-off, or perhaps delays between program participation and the post-test survey impacted seniors' responses about their experience.
  • These projects offer valuable social interaction for seniors and opportunities to connect with the younger generation and share their wisdom.
  • Promising partnerships have been initiated with the City of Fredericton to update the Seniors Directory, as well as Stepping Stones Senior Center to continue some of the student-led projects.

Recommendations

  • Collect Demographic Information: Ensure future projects collect detailed demographic information to better understand the background of participating seniors.
  • Broaden Recruitment: Continue to recruit from a wide range of settings to maintain a representative sample while ensuring inclusion of socioeconomically disadvantaged seniors.
  • Enhance Project Evaluation: Implement more robust evaluation methods to capture the full benefits of the projects to both students and seniors.
  • Expand Student-Senior Engagement: Expand research projects to further develop students' skills and interest in careers working with seniors.

To learn more read the complete project findings

Traiter les déterminants du bien-être des aînés et réduire l’isolement social

État du projet: Terminé
Catégorie: Améliorer les environnements bâtis et sociaux
Organisation responsable : New Brunswick Community College et Université du Nouveau-Brunswick – Saint John
Chercheuse principale(s) : Andrew Sexton
Co-chercheur : Barry Watson

Lisez les résultats du projet

À propos du projet :

Le problème

Le Nouveau-Brunswick est la province du Canada qui abrite la plus grande proportion de personnes de plus de 65 ans, et ce pourcentage continue de croître plus rapidement qu’ailleurs au pays.

L’importance

Nous découvrirons des moyens d’améliorer la santé sociale et émotionnelle des aînés du Nouveau-Brunswick grâce à des possibilités d’apprentissage pratique menées en collaboration avec des experts et des partenaires communautaires. 

Qu’est-ce qui rend ce projet différent?

Ce modèle peut être gagnant sur tous les plans en contribuant à approfondir la connaissance et la compréhension des enjeux liés au vieillissement en santé; il donne aux étudiants du <<NBCC>> une occasion d’en savoir davantage sur les enjeux liés au vieillissement en santé et permet aux partenaires communautaires et aux organisations intervenantes d’obtenir des ressources supplémentaires afin d’accroître les retombées aux premières lignes.

Effets prévus

En créant ce modèle novateur, nous souhaitons favoriser la réduction de l’isolement social, améliorer le bien-être social et émotionnel des aînés et abaisser les coûts des systèmes d’aide gouvernementaux et caritatifs dans l’ensemble du Nouveau-Brunswick.