Current Projects
Age-Friendly Community Consultations
The aim of this project is to support and assist communities with the gathering of baseline information to define "age-friendliness" and help them create an action plan to address barriers and increase age-friendly features in their communities.
In an age-friendly community, there is a culture of inclusion shared by persons of all ages and ability levels. Policies, services and structures related to the physical and social environment are designed to support and enable older people to "age actively", that is, to live in security, enjoy good health and continue to participate fully in society. According to the WHO, an age-friendly community is one that provides support and opportunities in eight areas: outdoor spaces and buildings; transportation; housing; respect and inclusion; social participation; civic participation and employment; communication and information; and community supports and health services.
To make communities in Manitoba more age-friendly, the Government of Manitoba has partnered with the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, seniors' organizations, community leaders, service providers, and public officials. The first round of communties that were invited to become part of this process are listed below. Please click on the community name to view a profile of that community.
- RM of Roblin
- Village of Cartwright
- Town of Morris
- Local Government District of Pinawa
- RM of Macdonald
- Town of Gladstone
- Town of Arborg
- Town of Gilbert Plains
- Town of The Pas
- Village of Elkhorn
To learn more about age-friendliness, these communities attended a two-day summit in Portage la Prairie in February 2008. Speakers offered a variety of perspectives on the importance of developing age-friendly communities, and research findings from communities who participated in age-friendly initiatives were highlighted.
Following the summit, each of the communities formed an Age-Friendly Advisory Council/Committee and has begun to assess age-friendly features and barriers. Through town-hall type meetings with seniors, caregivers of seniors, service providers and communtiy leaders, researchers will assist communities with the gathering and reporting of information in regard to their age-friendly features and barriers. This will allow communities to explore priorities and develop action plans to increase age-friendliness features.
Brochures and information packages have been developed to assist communities in becoming more age-friendly.
If you would like to know general information regarding the ten communities involved, please click on the links below to connect to the community websites:
WISER Study
Research Objective: To develop indicators to measure age-friendly characteristics.
The study builds on the WISER project (Principal Investigator: Dr. Alexander Segall), a longitudinal study of health promotion. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3935 adults in 1998/99, 1500 of whom were re-interviewed in 2002/03. One thousand and fifteen (1015) individuals aged 45 and older were interviewed a third time in 2007/08 and asked a variety of questions designed to address the eight domains of an age-friendly community. This study will help us develop psychometrically sound indicators of age-friendliness. A brief summary of results can be found in WISER Study - Phase Three (pdf).
Using photography to investigate older persons' perceptions of an age-friendly community
Research Objective: To increase our understanding of what makes a community age-friendly through a participatory process involving older persons within communities.
Dr. Toni Morris-Oswald is using participatory photovoice research techniques in six communities in Manitoba to investigate older persons' perceptions of an age-friendly community. As part of the research, seniors will take photographs of their communities to represent their daily reality, and the challenges and strengths of the community which impact quality of life for older persons. Through group discussions, seniors will identify attributes within their community that make it age-friendly and those that detract from age-friendliness. They will also investigate priorities and actions to improve age-friendliness and challenges to be overcome. A broader vision is that through participation in the photovoice study, community members will take action within their communities to further age-friendly goals and increase inclusion of age-related concerns in all community-level decision making.
CURA Age-Friendly Initiative: An examination of 'pilot' communities' implementation strategies
Research Objective: To describe the experiences of two Manitoba communities in becoming more age-friendly.
This project is designed to track and describe how two 'pilot' communities that participated in the WHO Global Age-Friendly Cities Project (Portage la Prairie) and the Canadian Age-Friendly Rural/Remote Communities Project (Gimli), respectively, begin to implement age-friendliness within their respective communities. Of particular relevance is how each community utilizes the learning that took place during the earlier focus groups and which has been summarized in a report provided to each community. This proposed research will describe community level goal setting and decision-making processes in relation to age-friendliness, identification of challenges faced and how they are addressed, documentation of successes in improving age-friendliness, and indicators that positive changes are occuring within the community.
The process of implementation will be observed and described by study researchers acting as participant observers through attendance at local age-friendly advisory group meetings. Researchers will also conduct periodic telephone interviews with individual members of the age-friendly advisory groups to discuss various issues that emerge as the group moves forward with an age-friendly agenda.
Age-Friendly Communities Survey
Research Objective: To determine how age-friendly communities in Manitoba currently are from the perspective of municipal government.
This project will provide information as to where communities currently stand in terms of age-friendliness from the perspective of local government. An instrument previously used in the United States to survey communities (The Maturing of America: Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population), which was also used in British Columbia, was adapted for the present purposes. The survey is designed to address domains of age-friendliness, with questions focusing on whether particular programs or services are available in the community and, if so, what role the municipal government plays in administering and funding them.
A survey (using both mail and web-based approaches to maximize the response rate) conducted with one hundred and thirty (130) municipalities in Manitoba (towns/cities and rural municipalities) was completed by Mayors or Reeves or municipal staff (i.e. Chief Administrative Officer).
Results from the Age-Friendly Communities Survey have been compiled into a report: "Age-Friendly Communities in Manitoba: Report on Survey Findings" (please click to view the full report in PDF).
Also available is a four-page summary (PDF) of the survey of Manitoba Municipalities.
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University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada