Navigating Older Adult Care: A Stakeholders and Systems Perspective

In the next few decades, our aging population will place an unprecedented demand for home and community care supports and healthcare resources. Members of the baby boom cohort will reach 65 years of age in the next ten years, and older seniors, those 80 years plus, will increase rapidly between 2026 and 2045. 

This research considers how we might better prepare and meet the needs of a growing older adult population by asking:

1. what community-based alternatives for older adult care exist,

2. what might promote health and wellbeing among older adults, and

3. how do we create resilience in the healthcare system.

This project applied qualitative research and design methods to illustrate stakeholder perspectives and experiences of older adult care and various system inputs and enablers. Findings indicate a desire for alternative models of care that leverage the strengths of both government and community, that represent values of respect and dignity, and that enable the needs and preferences of older adults to be met regardless of residential, social and economic differences.