Addressing determinants of senior well-being and reducing social isolation

Research Area: Health   | Status:  Ongoing | Led By: Instructor- and Student-led

Background

New Brunswick has Canada's highest proportion of people over the age of 65, and this share continues to grow. This aging trend threatens to cripple our healthcare and social systems if innovative solutions and efficiencies are not implemented. The most important gaps in social determinants of health and well-being of seniors in NB need to be identified to help tackle this crisis.

Project Vision

NBCC has partnered with UNBSJ for the Healthy Seniors Pilot Project (HSPP) titled, Addressing Determinants of Seniors Well-being and Reducing Social Isolation. This pilot project is ongoing to March 2024. 

Based on provincial data analyzed by UNBSJ and consultations with community partners, gaps in social determinants will be identified to help improve the emotional and social health and well-being needs of seniors in New Brunswick.

Examples of social determinants of health in seniors include better quality food, housing, transportation, health care, social interactions, and financial resources.

Our vision for this project is to support healthy aging for NB seniors in their homes, communities, and care facilities. There are experiential learning opportunities in nearly every NBCC program for our students to apply classroom knowledge and skills in ways that ultimately benefit NB’s aging population. We will match a classroom project to the needs of a community partner to test innovative solutions to help address New Brunswick seniors' health and well-being needs.

Goals and Expected Outcomes from the research

This innovative research model will be a win-win-win:

• helping researchers further the knowledge and understanding of issues related to healthy aging in New Brunswick
• providing NBCC students with enriched experiential learning opportunities related to healthy aging
• allowing community partners to access additional resources that ultimately benefits NB seniors

Researchers

NBCC (New Brunswick Community College)
Scott Henwood, Head, Applied Research & Innovation
Joni Leger, Research Associate – Social Innovation

University of New Brunswick
Dr. Barry Watson

Partners and Supports

This research project is funded through the Healthy Seniors Pilot Project (HSPP) initiative of Social Development supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The applied research initiative’s goal is to examine and improve how governments, in partnership with the research community, non-profits and the private sector, can better support seniors in their homes, communities and care facilities. Healthy Seniors Pilot Projects will help New Brunswickers to better understand the gendered impacts on an aging population, improve the quality of life for our seniors, and help us lay the groundwork for the dissemination of evidenced-based best practices in supporting healthy aging for all Canadians.