Grant: Foundation Grant

Social participation is critical to promote health, prevent disabilities and foster health equity in older adults and society but is restricted for approximately half of older Canadians. Social participation involves social and leisure activities, e.g. doing physical exercises, visiting friends and volunteering, that meet fundamental needs for interaction and self-accomplishment. Although roughly targeted by community organizations, health professionals and municipalities, few effective social participation interventions really reach vulnerable populations and are implemented in Canada. Preliminary studies demonstrated the feasibility and positive impacts of three promising and complementary interventions helping respectively community organizations, health professionals and municipalities target health and social participation: Personalized citizen assistance for social participation (APIC; individual intervention on community integration with volunteers), Lifestyle Redesign® (group intervention on healthy routines with occupational therapists) and age-friendly communities (AFC; population intervention on policies, services and structures). These interventions need more study to further evaluate their impacts. Over the next 5 years, I will continue to perfect these interventions by evaluating the cost-effectiveness and impacts of the APIC and Lifestyle Redesign on older adults' health and social participation. In addition, AFC will be explored to identify how and which components best foster positive health, social participation and health equity in older adults. These three interventions will be optimized and ultimately implemented as one continuum reinforcing actual social participation practices across Canada. Since disabilities can be prevented or delayed by an active lifestyle and innovative interventions addressing determinants of health such as social participation, this research program points to one of the most promising avenues to live longer and better.