Elliott Jacobi, Whate Alexandra, McNeil Heather, Kernoghan Alison, Stolee Paul
School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada.
Can J Aging. 2021 Oct 27:1-8. doi: 10.1017/S0714980821000453.
COVID-19 has disproportionally impacted older adults, and has highlighted many issues, including extreme deficiencies in Canadian long-term care homes and gaps in home and community care services for older adults. In recent years, there has been a push towards better patient and family engagement in health system research, and with the onset of the pandemic, engaging older adults in research and policy planning is more important than ever. In this article, we describe the Seniors Helping as Research Partners (SHARP) approach to engagement with older adults as an example of how partnerships that engage older adults in the development of research aims and processes can help to ensure that future research meets the needs of older adults. SHARP members highlighted a number of areas for future COVID-19 research such as improvements to long-term care, enhancing access to home and community care, and a focus on aging and social isolation.
新冠疫情对老年人产生了尤为严重的影响，并凸显了诸多问题，包括加拿大长期护理机构存在的极端不足，以及老年人居家和社区护理服务方面的差距。近年来，一直有人推动患者及家属更多地参与卫生系统研究，随着疫情的爆发，让老年人参与研究和政策规划比以往任何时候都更加重要。在本文中，我们介绍了“老年人作为研究伙伴提供帮助”（SHARP）这一让老年人参与其中的方法，以此为例说明让老年人参与研究目标和流程制定的伙伴关系如何有助于确保未来的研究满足老年人的需求。SHARP成员强调了未来新冠疫情研究的一些领域，如改善长期护理、增加居家和社区护理服务的可及性，以及关注老龄化和社会隔离问题。
