The purpose of this qualitative interpretive design was to explore the perspectives of researchers, health care providers, policy makers, and decision makers on key risks, concerns, and emerging issues related to home care safety that would inform a line of research inquiry. Defining safety specifically in this home care context has yet to be…

The purpose of the present research was to examine the perceptions of risk regarding falling held by older adults and their adult children. Using a focused ethnographic approach, older adults and adult children were interviewed in depth. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes within groups and to compare the perspectives of older…

Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of falls-prevention programs designed for community-dwelling seniors using randomized designs. However, little is known about the feasibility of implementing these programs under natural conditions and about the success of these programs when delivered under such conditions. The objectives of this…

The Falls Intervention Trials included 50 older adults as controls and 50 who were given risk assessment, individualized feedback, and a motivational video and booklet. The treatment group acted on only 50% of recommendations for risk reduction. The intervention may not have addressed many of the specific causes of falling. (SK)

Hospitalization is a sentinel event that leads to loss of independence for many seniors. This study of long-stay hospitalizations (more than 30 days) in seniors was undertaken to identify risk factors for not going home, to characterize patients with risk factors who did go home and to describe one year outcomes following home discharge. Using…

Medication use is recognized as the least expensive, most cost-effective health care intervention. In older adults this is especially important, as they are the largest consumer of prescription medications. We describe the use of a linked data set including pharmaceutical, medical, and hospital claims to examine pharmaceutical use in the…

Urinary incontinence is common in the elderly. The epidemiology of fecal and double (urinary and fecal) incontinence is less known. The Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) is a national study of elderly living in the community at baseline (n = 8,949) and interviewed in 1991-1992, 1996, and 2001. Using data from the CSHA, we report the…

The objective of this study was to describe the incidence, type, risk factors, and sequelae of fractures experienced by community-dwelling elderly Canadians. Data are from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a longitudinal cohort study, collected in three waves: baseline (1991), wave 2 (1996), and wave 3 (2001). In CSHA-2 (1996),…

Older adults are the largest group of wheelchair users yet there are no peer-reviewed studies on the national profile of older wheelchair users in Canada. We investigated the characteristics of wheelchair users in a national sample of community-dwelling older adults from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA-2). Questions on the use of…

Trends in the health status of the entire senior population aged 65 years or older in Manitoba were examined over a 14-year period (1985-1999) using administrative data (about 150,000 individuals). Significant health gains were apparent for a number of important indicators, including acute myocardial infarction, stroke, cancer, and hip fractures,…

This paper tests assumptions often made by policy makers and practitioners that networks of family, friends, and neighbours are able to provide sustained care to frail elderly Canadians. Using national survey data, we examined characteristics of the care networks of 1,104 seniors living with a long-term health problem. Care networks were found to…