Healthy Aging Alberta, United Way of Calgary and Area, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Health Promot Chronic Dis Prev Can. 2024 Sep;44(9):385-391. doi: 10.24095/hpcdp.44.9.05.
Executive summary: The age of Canada's population is increasing, necessitating innovative methods and tools for assessing the needs of older adults and identifying effective health and social prescriptions. In Alberta, a community-based, senior-serving organization undertook the development and piloting of the Healthy Aging Asset Index, an assessment tool and social prescribing guide for use by a variety of professionals within the community. Tool development was rooted in medical complexity assessment and social work practice, and adhered to the determinants of healthy aging established by Alberta's Healthy Aging Framework, which is based on the determinants of healthy aging published by the World Health Organization. Results from the pilot showed improvement in the functionality of older adults within the determinants over time, as they were supported in addressing areas of personal vulnerability. Adopting tools such as the Healthy Aging Asset Index can bring cohesiveness to the support that older adults receive across the care continuum and has the potential to shift the balance of care away from the health system and towards the community, thus improving the capacity of health systems and government to meet the needs of Canada's older adults.
加拿大人口老龄化加剧，需要创新方法和工具来评估老年人的需求，并确定有效的健康和社会处方。在艾伯塔省，一个以社区为基础、为老年人服务的组织开发并试行《健康老龄化资产指数》，这是一种评估工具和社会处方指南，可供社区内的各种专业人员使用。该工具的开发基于医疗复杂性评估和社会工作实践，并遵循艾伯塔省健康老龄化框架确定的健康老龄化决定因素，该框架基于世界卫生组织发布的健康老龄化决定因素。试点结果显示，随着老年人在个人脆弱性领域得到支持，他们的功能在决定因素方面随着时间的推移得到了改善。采用《健康老龄化资产指数》等工具可以使老年人在整个护理连续体中得到的支持更加协调一致，并有可能将护理的平衡从卫生系统转移到社区，从而提高卫生系统和政府满足加拿大老年人需求的能力。
