Grant: Project Grant

First Nations (FN) populations in Canada are rapidly aging. Chronic diseases and related complex disability or "multi-morbidity" is epidemic among Indigenous people: more than half of those age 65 and older report limitations in their ability to be independent in the community. Using a "two-eyed seeing" approach which places Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing on equal ground with Western approaches to research, we will partner with FN communities in Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan to: identify the needs of Indigenous older persons living with multi-morbidity; develop and adapt interventions to address the health issues and barriers to care for older adults; and evaluate the effectiveness of community-specific interventions to enhance "wholistic health". The overall impact will be assessed through measures of cultural connectedness of persons with MCC; individual and community capacity to effect change in service delivery programs; and overall health as viewed from a First Nations wholistic perspective of mind, body, emotion, and spirit within the individual person, family and community. Our goal is to create a legacy of sustained partnerships that promote true reconciliation and together cultivate a way forward from colonization and intergenerational trauma to healthier aging.