Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
College of Social Work, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Health Soc Care Community. 2022 Nov;30(6):e4652-e4661. doi: 10.1111/hsc.13871. Epub 2022 Jun 8.
While policies and practices that promote aging in place have risen in prominence over the last two decades, marginalised older adults have largely been overlooked. 'Aging in the right place' is a concept that recognises the importance of adequate and appropriate age-related health and psychosocial supports in shelter/housing settings and their impact on the ability of older people to age optimally. To understand the unique shelter/housing challenges and solutions that affect aging in the right place for older people experiencing homelessness (OPEH), we conducted three World Café workshops in three Canadian cities-Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver. In total, 89 service providers and OPEH engaged in the workshops, which involved guided, small-table discussions with the goal of stimulating creative ideas and fostering a productive atmosphere. Findings revealed two overarching themes 1) Discrepancies, between the need and availability of housing options and community supports for OPEH, such as affordable transportation, case management, access to healthcare, and system navigation; and 2) Desires, for more peer support, participatory planning, service-enriched housing, social programming, and policies that promote agency, independence, and choice for OPEH. These findings provide evidence to inform the development or modification of housing and supports for OPEH that promote aging in the right place.
尽管过去二十年来,提倡就地养老的政策和实践已经越来越受到关注,但边缘化的老年人在很大程度上被忽视了。“在合适的地方养老”是一个概念,它认识到在住房环境中提供充足和适当的与年龄相关的健康和心理社会支持的重要性,以及这些支持对老年人实现最佳老龄化的能力的影响。为了了解影响无家可归的老年人(OPEH)实现适当养老的独特住房/住房挑战和解决方案,我们在加拿大的三个城市——蒙特利尔、卡尔加里和温哥华——举办了三次世界咖啡研讨会。总共有 89 名服务提供商和 OPEH 参与了这些研讨会,这些研讨会涉及有指导的、小桌子讨论,旨在激发创意并营造富有成效的氛围。研究结果揭示了两个总体主题:1)住房选择和社区支持(如负担得起的交通、个案管理、获得医疗保健和系统导航)对于 OPEH 的需求和可用性之间的差距;2)OPEH 更希望获得更多的同伴支持、参与式规划、服务丰富的住房、社交计划以及促进机构、独立和选择的政策。这些发现为 OPEH 的住房和支持的制定或修改提供了证据,以促进他们在合适的地方养老。