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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. Through CIHR, the Government of Canada invested more than $55 million in 2004-05 in aging-related research across Canada.
Canada's population is aging. But while life expectancy has increased, life without disability has not increased to the same extent. A growing number of older Canadians will face the combined effects of a decline in physical function, medical problems and the development of chronic diseases. Improving the health of older Canadians requires a better understanding of the processes of aging.
The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a large, national, long-term study that will follow 50,000 Canadians aged 40 and over for a period of at least 20 years. The study will collect information on the biological, medical, psychological, social and economic aspects of their lives to better understand how these factors have an impact on aging. The study will examine health patterns and trends and identify ways to reduce disability and suffering among aging Canadians.
The study builds upon previous efforts such as the Aging in Manitoba Longitudinal Study, the longest and most comprehensive study of aging in Canada to date, which has followed almost 9,000 older Manitobans over the 30-year study period.
After completing his doctoral studies, Professor François Béland's first job was to evaluate the first home care service policy in Quebec?three-quarters of the users of this service were seniors. Since then, he has focused his research on social gerontology, in particular access to health services, the health of elderly populations and methods of integrating health and social services for seniors.
In 1983, he entered the Health Administration department of the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine as a researcher and is now a full professor there. He is a researcher with the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé (GRIS) at the Université de Montréal, associate professor with the Geriatric Services department of McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, and co-director, with Dr. Howard Bergman, of SOLIDAGE, the Université de Montréal-McGill University research group on integrated services for older persons.
SOLIDAGE was created in 1999 as an Interdisciplinary Health Research Team, funded by CIHR to foster collaboration among researchers on integrated services for seniors. Based at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, SOLIDAGE focuses on research on the integration of services and the frailty of the elderly, as well as their implications for health policies, funding, organization and management of services, and clinical practice.
SOLIDAGE was formed to conduct research in several areas. The conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of the system of integrated services for seniors (SIPA - Système deservices intégrés pour personnes âgées) is one of SOLIDAGE's major accomplishments. In this evaluation, 1,230 frail elderly individuals were recruited for SIPA's experimental study in Montreal. The results revealed that SIPA had successfully replaced institutional services with community resources at no additional cost, without increasing the burden on loved ones, and maintaining, if not increasing, the quality of services.
SOLIDAGE works closely with the Canadian Initiative on Frailty and Aging and the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.
"Collaboration allows us to pool the information available to help us implement effective health policies and ensure the best possible quality of life for elderly individuals across Canada," affirms Professor Béland.
Professor Béland plans to build on the support he has received for SOLIDAGE in order to continue his research and researcher training program and actualize the collaboration begun by SOLIDAGE and other research groups in Quebec, Canada and other countries over the past few years.
It's time for research on aging. The CIHR Institute of Aging is helping older Canadians of today and tomorrow enjoy good health and quality of life by focusing on a wide range of conditions associated with aging. Led by Scientific Director Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews, the Institute and its stakeholders have identified cognitive impairment in aging, healthy and successful aging, biological mechanisms of aging, maintenance of functional autonomy and health services and policy relating to older people as its priority areas for research. The Institute, with its partners, is focusing on translating knowledge gained through research into better prevention and treatment. Through its Seniors' Workshops on Research, it is facilitating knowledge exchange and networking among seniors, seniors' organizations, service providers and the Institute, while gathering input on priorities for research on aging in different Canadian regions.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to close to 10,000 researchers and trainees in every province of Canada. For more information visit http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/.
