Digital interventions to improve the mental wellbeing and quality of life of low-income community-dwelling older adults

Our previous research with Mitacs has found that financial burden is one of the biggest negative contributors to the mental health of community-dwelling seniors. We plan to continue to work with the West End Seniors Network (WESN), Vancouver’s second largest not-for-profit seniors’ center, to explore how technology can be utilized to provide mental health aids and services for low-income seniors. The intern will conduct focus groups with older adults to accomplish the research objectives. WESN and other community centers across Canada will be able to use the data obtained in this project to guide the development of future technology-based programs to help the mental health and quality of life of low-income older adults in their respective communities. The collaboration between the intern’s academic institution, WESN, and Mental Health Research Canada will build a foundation for future collaborative research and expanding knowledge mobilization strategies on the topic of mental health, under-represented older adult populations, and digital health across the country.

Faculty Supervisor:

Theodore Cosco

Student:

Partner:

Mental Health Research Canada;West End Seniors' Network

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: