Cross-sectional study by 91亚色 U of more than 13,500 older adults found not all digital communication tools had the same associations with perceived mental health

Seniors are considered the fastest-growing group on the Internet, but does being connected online help or hinder mental health for older adults? According to a published in the open access journal PLOS Global Public Health led by 91亚色 Glendon College Associate Professor , while some Internet use such as email has been associated with mental health benefits, social media sites were linked to lower perceived mental health. 

 鈥淯nderstanding how digital communication tools are associated with mental health outcomes can inform policy and practice aimed at supporting mental well-being in this age group,鈥� the authors say. 鈥淭he findings may inform the development of targeted interventions and strategies to support mental well-being among older adults.

The use of the Internet has been linked to reduced social isolation and loneliness. However, the literature also presents mixed findings on the impact of digital communication tools on mental health among older adults, with some studies suggesting that digital behaviors may be associated with poorer mental health outcomes.

In the new study by Ali-Hassan and School of Kinesiology and Health Science researchers Safoura Zangiabadi and Durmalouk Kesibi from 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health, they analyzed data from the 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey, a cross-sectional survey conducted by Statistics Canada. The analysis was restricted to adults aged 55 and older, and included 13,536 participants, weighted to be representative of the entire Canadian population aged 55 and older. Data was available on which online communication-related activities participants had conducted in the previous three months, their self-reported mental health, and sociodemographic factors. 

Over half of participants reported engaging in digital communication activities. After adjusting for covariates, email use was significantly positively associated with perceived mental health, while use of social networking sites was associated with poorer perceived mental health. No significant associations were found for instant messaging, online voice or video calls, dating websites, or uploading content. 

The authors suggest one possible explanation for the negative association between perceived mental health and social media may be exposure to distressing content as well as social comparison.

Read the original release .

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I was hopeful that when the COVID-19 pandemic drew attention to the plight of senior citizens, the attention might result in meaningful change. Instead, seniors seem to be for .

Let me set some context. The is a remarkable document. It is simple and clear. Provinces must adhere to the principles of universal, reasonable access to comprehensive hospital and doctor care throughout Canada, without charge for medically necessary care and with funding from a publicly administered, non-profit health insurance plan.

Those with a health-care card can go to any hospital or doctor and do not have to worry about health-care bankruptcy or losing health-care coverage if they change jobs or travel across Canada. Because the rich use the same beds as everyone else, they have a vested interest in all beds being high quality.

A good start with good principles

The CHA and the public insurance programs that preceded it dramatically improved access to quality care, quality jobs and 鈥� not incidentally in these times 鈥� it promoted solidarity across ages, classes and genders through what became Canada鈥檚 best loved social program.

Of course, it was not perfect or perfectly equitable, but .

However, there are three basic problems with it. First, it was supposed to be the first step towards a system that covered home care, long-term care, eye, dental and pharmaceutical care, but it . Second, the principles depended on the federal government using its spending power for enforcement. And third, it failed to prohibit for-profit services being paid public money or doctors from operating in private practices.

So when the federal government started tinkering with funding, changing from providing cash to match half provincial costs and instead offering provinces tax room, . When Ottawa then failed to keep up funding, provinces and territories started defining hospital and doctor care more and more narrowly, .

Increasingly, more necessary care had user fees or lacked public financial support. , undermining solidarity in the process. This is especially the case for seniors, whose care needs are increasingly defined as chronic rather than acute and therefore not requiring hospital care. are especially likely to have low incomes, making them unable to buy care.

Seniors鈥� election issues

Which brings me to this federal election and seniors, and to issues that are being swamped by a .

There are gaping at home and in long-term care as well as to hospital care and primary care services. And equally important, there is less access to good jobs providing this care.

We hear a lot about how , but staying at home often requires skilled care, special facilities and support for things like food, cleaning and maintenance, as well as help with dressing and walking. Too often, what we mean by care at home is 24/7 , untrained and unpaid for the work, too often doing so to the detriment of their own health and economic future.

Too often it is about shifting costs and labour to families and individuals, not about choice or overall cost savings. Too often .

There has been new , a significant amount of which is unconditional and thus available for home care. But we have seen little effective expansion.

The recently appointed seems primarily focused on getting better data and more migrants to provide care, to attracting and keeping the staff.

If we are serious about home as the place to be, we need to provide the public support for the option, support that needs to go well beyond a few more temporary work permits for care providers.

Nursing homes

Which takes me to nursing homes. At the same time as home care is talked about as the first choice, . We forget though that many people do not have homes, many homes are unsafe physically and/or in terms of abuse, many homes are isolating, and many people have 24-hour extensive care needs that cannot be accommodated in a private home.

When we ask residents about whether there is compared to their private home, many say yes; they feel safe, there is company, there are activities, and women especially say there is someone to clean the bathroom and make the meals. Of course, we can and should make nursing homes better for people to live, work and visit in them, but we can鈥檛 forget that we need them and significantly more of them as well as more people to work in them.

The federal government did but then it has done little with those standards. We need more beds, more staff and enforced standards. As with hospital care, the federal government could use its spending power to play a critical role, doing so through the .

And we need more community care clinics providing the full range of services. Here too the but we need more and we need to severely limit private practice that contributes to fragmented care.

Care vs. profit

And in all these areas, we need to ensure the .

Of course good and fair health care costs money. But we have to remember that , in equity and in solidarity. The money does not go into a hole. It circulates in the economy. And investments in providing good conditions of work can save money at the same time as they promote care, given that the conditions of work are the conditions of care.

We need to put senior care back on the agenda in the aftermath of this election.

By Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology , 91亚色

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Covid in the House of Old Presents 鈥淪tories for a Revolution鈥� by Associate Professor Megan J. Davies at 91亚色 on September 14

TORONTO, Sept. 11, 2023 鈥� Giving voice to the tales of devastating loss, tragedy, hopes and aspirations, (CIHO) by 91亚色 Professor and historian Megan Davies will exhibit at four new GTA locations this fall.

The travelling, national exhibit will start at 91亚色 on Thursday, Sept. 14 with a presentation, Stories for a Revolution, by Davies鈥� of her latest work, including two new chairs 鈥� Kayley鈥檚 Chair and the Rainbow Chair. It is a commemoration of the COVID-19 pandemic through CIHO, an exhibit about the impacts of the pandemic on Canadian residential care homes.

Kayley鈥檚 Chair tells the story of a young woman who lived in two Saskatchewan care homes as a teenager and young adult before moving to her own house in 2019, while the Rainbow Chair, created with the help of the Senior Pride Network, highlights the stories of queer elders in long-term care during the pandemic.

Davies, of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, created the exhibit with the help of families, staff, and residents and their stories are represented through the wooden storytelling chairs that sit at the heart of the exhibit. The chairs feature powerful audio stories of frustration, outrage, care, love, and grief that trace the fault lines that COVID-19 revealed in this country鈥檚 eldercare system.

As one of the first public commemorations of the pandemic, CIHO brings stories from a national humanitarian crisis to Canadians and asks them to take action. CIHO remembers the thousands of Canadian care home residents and workers who died of COVID-19 or suffered extended periods of stress and isolation. Some 7,609 seniors in Canadian care homes died of COVID in the first seven months of the pandemic. The chairs in this exhibit represent some of the stories told by their daughters, sons, grandchildren and more.

Visitors can share their own stories about COVID-19 in residential facilities and their thoughts about the future of eldercare at the exhibit鈥檚 Story Space. Story contributions will be uploaded to the and preserved in Montreal's Archives Passe-M茅moire, creating a permanent national collection of these thoughts, feelings, and memories.

91亚色 graduate and undergraduate students have been integral to creating and sustaining the exhibit and Story Space.

Davies, of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, will present on Sept. 14, from 3 to 4 p.m., in the 7th floor lounge of the Kaneff Tower on 91亚色鈥檚 Keele Campus.

Davies, exhibit curator, will be in Toronto and available for interviews.

Additional exhibit dates for COVID in the House of Old:

• Thursday, Sept. 28 to Saturday, Sept. 30: Buddies in Bad Times Cabaret, 12 Alexander St, Toronto. Exhibit hours: Sept. 28, 2 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Sept. 29 to 30, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 3 to Tuesday, Oct. 10: Christie Gardens Apartments & Care, 600 Melita Cres, Toronto. Exhibit hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Story Space hours: Oct. 3 to 9, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Wednesday, Oct. 12 to Wednesday, Oct. 18: Active Adult Centre, 377 Burnhamthorpe Rd. E., Suite 116, Mississauga

• Friday, Oct. 27 to Monday, Oct. 30: Castleview Wychwood Towers, 351 Christie St., Toronto, ON

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TORONTO, May 7, 2020 鈥� COVID-19 has hit long-term residential care facilities particularly hard. It鈥檚 a situation brought on in part by a lack of attention to a sector many people choose to ignore, but 91亚色 Professor Pat Armstrong, who led the 10-year project , says that needs to change.

Armstrong and her international team recently published the report, .

鈥淐urrently, the state of nursing homes and the number of beds available suggest we do not highly value older people or the growing number of younger people who are now in nursing homes or those who provide their care,鈥� says Armstrong of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. 鈥淎t least, we do not value them enough to ensure they have the conditions and care they need.鈥�

鈥淲hat has also become so evident in this crisis is that ensuring everyone has the care they need helps protect us all,鈥� she says.

Armstrong can talk about the following:

• Why long-term care facilities should be part of a universal health care system.
• Why private, for-profit models of care are not the route to take. Research has shown they tend to have lower staffing levels, more verified complaints, as well as higher rates for both ulcers and morbidity. They also contract work out 鈥� laundry, cleaning 鈥� and that brings more people into the home daily, presenting a risk.
• The importance of having enough beds available and the resources to support the work to provide appropriate care.
• The problems facing the nursing home labour force and the use of part-time and casual workers who work in more than one home.
• Why Canada is almost seven times as likely as some Nordic long-term care facilities to report they face violence on a daily or almost daily basis.
• What needs to be done in the short- and long-term.

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91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca

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