Keeping Well
A Framework to Build Intergenerational Cohesion - Buffering Social Isolation and Strengthening Emotional Vitality: A Community-based Approach that Integrates Community Spirit as a Tenet of Eco Therapy to Support Intergenerational Connection
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amy Fischer Williams, Lillian Marie Wallace
In this theory building paper, the authors outline a way to incorporate the theoretical tenets of eco therapy and community spirit to develop a framework for community member allies to work in tandem with paraprofessionals and licensed professionals to help identify, screen, and reach rural elders who are socially isolated. In this intergenerational, community-based approach, listening spaces are created for older adults to share their personal narratives, lived experiences, and oral histories to create intra and intergenerational cohesion. Crossing age cohorts and strengthening intergenerational solidarity is conceptualized as an authentic way to create a buffer from social isolation and strengthen emotional vitality. This framework captures opportunities to strengthen emotional vitality and build human connections.
The Perfect Storm: Frontline Nurses’ Health, Well-being, and Quality of Clinical Care and Work Life Attributed to Polycrisis Dimensions of Healthcare View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Helen Kelley
The Canadian Healthcare System is entangled in a polycrisis of interconnected dimensions – staffing shortages, staff burnout, insufficient staff supports, budget/funding shortages, insufficient elderly care options, and others. The deepening polycrisis has unprecedented implications for frontline nurses’ (FNs) health and well-being and the clinical care they provide. Our objectives were to understand the current state of FNs’ health and well-being, their perceptions of the contributing factors, and the impacts on their quality of clinical care and work life. As nurses are the backbone of healthcare (nursing science), the study’s findings will assist health and continuing care leaders (health management, organizational science) in prioritizing a culture and climate of health and well-being (occupational health) that fosters self-care, provides organizational supports, and redesigns services models in acute care and long-term care (LTC) (organizational design). Thereby, disrupting the cascading effects of the polycrisis (multidisciplinary framework). Our mixed-methods design (semi-structured interviews and cross-sectional survey) collected responses from nurses working in acute care, emergency, and LTC. Our analysis strategies included thematic analysis with deductive coding of the interview data and testing various associations between constructs derived from the survey data. Nurses reported the polycrisis dimensions - chronic budget cuts, staffing shortages, work-demands, shift patterns, and lack of organizational supports - affected their health and well-being. Furthermore, nurses linked the effects of their health and well-being to compromised clinical care and reduced quality of work life. Caring for and serving nurses better should lead to workforce sustainability, reduced staff shortages, and improved care for elderly patients.
Local Governments’ Perceptions of Intersectoral Actions Related to the Health and Well-Being of Older Adults View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alexandra Ethier, Emilie Richard Freve, Joanie Theriault, Galaad Lefay, Marie-Michèle Lord
In Québec, responsibility for older adults’ health and well-being largely falls under provincial government. Recently, policies have shifted towards Health for All approach, emphasizing notably intersectoral action. However, that approach has been underexplored in relation to older adults, particularly from the perspective of local governments (municipalities). Thus, our study objective was to examine local government’s experience of the intersectoral approach to support older adults’ health and well-being. Our study is embedded within a bigger project that brought together local sectors to discuss intersectoral actions for the health and well-being of older adults. We recruited 78 participants from three regions through various means (i.e., word of mouth, strategic advertisement on social media). This resulted in 11 audio recorded workshops. Here we focus on the local government representatives’ perspective, which was thematically analysed. Municipal representatives mostly reported challenges, which we grouped into five themes. They are 1) insufficient resources (e.g., paid and volunteer staff); 2) challenges in collaboration due to in part, lack of communication, work in silos and lack of knowledge about existing levers for intersectoral actions; 3) lack of a clear mandate, 4) difficulties reaching older adults and 5) difficulties in engaging in age-friendly initiatives. Implications. Results point to the need to improve knowledge of existing local initiatives and communication between sectors. Future research should be conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of those challenges, as the municipal sector’s perspectives were explored alongside other sectors.
