CAPRICORN: Culturally Appropriate Practical Solutions Relevant to Indigenous Seniors and Caregivers Of Remote Northern Communities

Area of Research: 
Aging
Health services & systems

OBJECTIVE

This project aims to assess Indigenous seniors’ perspectives on health, their existing and prevalent conditions, as well as their experience with healthcare and the availability of healthcare to them.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Due to difficulties from geographic, language, and cultural challenges in accessing health care, Indigenous seniors in Northern Canada are one of Canada’s most vulnerable peoples. In the Northwest Territories, this is the fastest growing age group and their proportion among the population are expected to continue to increase. Despite this group being vulnerable and growing in size, there is very little literature on older adults in the Northwest Territories. As a result, the CAPRICORN project aims to assess Indigenous seniors’ perspectives on health, their existing and prevalent conditions, as well as their experience with healthcare and the availability of healthcare to them. The study will identify barriers to, and opportunities for, improvements in Indigenous seniors’ health. The project will focus on two communities with large Indigenous populations: Inuvik and Yellowknife. These communities have proposed to call the project: 50+, Seniors and Elders Health Survey.

The study will qualitatively and quantitatively assess factors affecting the health of Indigenous seniors through innovative community-based participatory research. It will generate the first comprehensive evidence on the health of Indigenous seniors and their experiences utilizing healthcare services in Northern Canada. These findings will be able to inform policies and programs to improve Indigenous seniors’ health-related knowledge, research, and care. This project is funded by CIHR.

RELEVANT LINKS