Quality of life and well-being of older patients in chronic care facilities is often determined by their relationships with nurses. The authors developed and tested a scale to assess patients’ views of what matters most when relating to nurses. Based on the humanistic nursing theory by Paterson and Zderad (1988), 69 items were created and tested with a sample of 40 patients, resulting in refinement of a scale with 24 items. This scale was factor analysed on responses from 249 patients residing in five facilities in Ontario, Canada. The Humanistic Relationship Importance Scale demonstrated strong internal consistency, stability, and reliability with a five-factor solution (α = .87). Construct validity was supported through factual identification. This scale is a valid measure of patients’ perspectives of a nurse-patient relationship in chronic care and can be used to measure health professionals’ relationships with their older patients and evaluate interventions to enhance relational care.

Employing a participatory arts-based research approach, we examined an innovative program from rural Ontario, Canada, designed to address social isolation among older people. Older socially isolated adults were matched to trained volunteers, where in dyads, the eight pairs created expressive art in their home setting over the course of 10 home visits. With thematic and narrative inquiry, we analysed the experiences and perceptions of the program leader, older participants, and older volunteers via their artistic creations, weekly logs, evaluations, and field notes. The findings reveal a successful intervention that positively influenced the well-being of older adult participants and older volunteers, especially in regards to relationships, personal development, and creating meaning as well as extending the intervention’s impact beyond the program’s duration. We also discuss opportunities for similar programs to inform policy and enable positive community-based health and social service responses to rural social isolation.

Homelessness among older people is a growing concern across Canada and is expected to rise with demographic change (Crane & Warnes, 2010; Culhane, Metraux, Byrne, Stino, & Bainbridge, 2013). Yet current knowledge, policies, and practices on homelessness largely focus on younger populations. Likewise, research and policies on aging typically overlook homelessness. Responses to homelessness among older people must address complex needs related to health, income security, and housing. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this article outlines the existing and needed research with regards to homelessness among older people. We clarify the intersections of aging and homelessness; review the relevant statistics, including estimated prevalence; discuss pathways and variations in experience; and identify gaps in knowledge. We conclude with a call for an inclusive research agenda that will help build policies and practices to reduce and ultimately to eliminate homelessness among older people in Canada.

This research examines obstacles faced by older people living with HIV in maintaining their significant social ties (family, friends) in the light of a double theoretical framework, inter-sectionality and the course of life. Favoring a qualitative methodology, this research is based on in-depth, semi-directed interviews with a diverse sample of 38 people living with HIV, aged 50-73 years. Analysis reveals that a significant proportion of participants have experienced ruptures or deterioration of close ties with intimates at the level of family or friends. The principal factors behind these difficulties are the past and present stigma associated with HIV and /or other social positions, long-term effects of HIV, issues related to aging and crosscutting effects of HIV and aging.

Equitable access to and utilization of health services is a primary goal for many health care systems, particularly in countries with universal publicly funded systems. Despite concerns regarding potentially adverse implications of the 1990s’ health care policy and other reforms, whether and how income inequalities in service utilization changed remains unclear. This study addressed the impact of income on physician and hospital utilization from 1992–2002 among adults aged 50 and older in British Columbia. Those with lower incomes were found less likely to access general practitioner and specialist services but more likely to access hospital services. Income-related disparities in physician care increased over time; hospital care declined. Volume of GP and hospital care was inversely associated with income; these differences increased regarding GP services only. Findings of declines in hospital-care access, accompanied by increasing income-related disparities in physician-services access, show that inequities are increasing within Canada’s health care system.

Different care settings in Quebec use levels of medical intervention forms, also called levels of care (LOC), to determine the code status of patients and to improve end-of-life care planning. It is not currently possible to know whether the levels of care in hospitals benefit patients and staff in facilitating the decision making process of treatment options and resuscitation measures. No study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has been published about LOC, particularly in Quebec and Canada. This literature review was undertaken on levels of care in order to clarify this topic. Relevant articles are discussed under different themes that are pertinent to LOC. The themes addressed in this article include care at the end of life, do-not-resuscitate orders, treatment withdrawal, and decision making at end of life.

In France, few studies have investigated the experience of home caregivers with elderly people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or alcoholic behavior. The aim of this study was to describe caregivers' understanding of these disorders to identify their difficulties and satisfactions in relation to their role. Seventeen social care workers were interviewed and the content was analysed using a general inductive approach. Regarding misuse or abuse of alcohol, they expressed a feeling of helplessness, and put forth their experience and skills to communicate with the receiver of care. Concerning Alzheimer’s disease, they expressed worries regarding its progression They identified themselves with the elder’s anxiety, which induced fears regarding their own old age. All of them were satisfied by the care they provided and by the possibility of acquiring experience. Results could be of use in supporting clinical preventive actions for professional home caregivers dealing with these two disorders that can occur in the course of the ageing process.

The Seniors Support Services for South Asian Community (S4AC) project was developed in response to the underutilization of available recreation and seniors’ facilities by South Asian seniors who were especially numerous in a suburban neighbourhood in British Columbia. Addressing the problem required the collaboration of the municipality and a registered non-profit agency offering a wide range of services and programs to immigrant and refugee communities. Through creative outreach and accommodation, the project has engaged more than 100 Punjabi-speaking seniors annually in diverse exercise activities. Case study research methods with staff and current and former senior participants of S4AC include participant observation, individual interviews, and focus groups. Viewed through the critical interpretive lens of the “candidacy framework”, findings reveal the myriad ways in which access to health promotion and physical activity for immigrant older adults is a complex iterative process of negotiation at multiple levels.

New surveillance technologies like those included in ambient assisted living – such as body-worn and passive environmental sensors, smart interfaces, and communications networks – are being developed to improve the security and safety of “at risk” older people, but ethical questions have been raised about the extent to which they compromise the rights and privacy of the people being monitored. The qualitative study we conducted was designed to help us understand the ways these novel surveillance technologies would influence individuals’ everyday experiences of home. Participants felt new forms of surveillance would influence their sense of security, autonomy, and self-confidence, and would alter perceptions of home. The findings emphasize the need to improve our understanding of how ambient assisted living will affect the lives of those being monitored.

This study identified factors that influenced physical activity (PA) participation among older adults from rural settings in Nova Scotia Canada and explored how the rural context may influence PA participation and promotion. Data were collected via individual semistructured interviews with 20 older adults (Mage = 77.5 years) from rural areas of Cape Breton and subjected to thematic analysis procedures (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Four themes representing factors that influence the prioritization of PA were identified: (1) historical context of activity, work, and productivity; (2) already busy with day-to-day activities; (3) being/staying on the go; and (4) cautionary approach. These findings suggest that PA promotion should be contextually salient, and highlight the need for a shared understanding between rural older adults and PA promoters regarding what constitutes being “physically active”. Effective promotion of PA among rural older adults may require a shift away from contemporary methods of PA promotion.

Some researchers have suggested that qualitative research is increasing in the gerontology field, but little systematic analysis has tested this assertion. Using the Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue canadienne du vieillissement as a case study, we analysed articles reporting on original research from 1995 to 2012. One in four articles were qualitative, and results in three-year intervals show a clear increase in qualitative research findings during this 18-year time frame: (a) 1995–1997: 10 per cent; (b) 1998–2000: 19 per cent; (c) 2001–2003: 25 per cent; (d) 2004–2006: 25 per cent; (e) 2007–2009: 29 per cent; and (f) 2010–2012: 43 per cent. In all time intervals (with the exception of 2004–2006), French language articles were more likely to use a qualitative research design compared to English language articles. Topics, methodologies, and data collection strategies are also discussed.