Abstract
Seniors from linguistic minorities make up a significant proportion of Canada’s population, as in other countries, in both urban and rural areas. Evidence shows that these people face challenges in accessing health care and social services, particularly in terms of being able to explain their health problems in their language of origin. While this is an important finding, the other issues involved in maintaining health and well-being are poorly documented, and the voice of seniors themselves is little heard when it comes to their priorities. A research project was carried out in 2024 with the following objectives: 1) to identify the issues experienced by English-speaking seniors in Quebec (Canada’s French-speaking province) when taking action to maintain their health and well-being; 2) to enable these people to target priorities for action to foster a health and social services system that enables them to adequately support their health and well-being. This project used a mixed design combining an online questionnaire (n= 545) with three focus groups (urban, rural, and remote). Results: This presentation will focus on the results of the online questionnaire. The analyses identified issues related directly to language, but also to stigmatization (e.g. feeling of having to go to a different province to access respectful care due to belonging to a linguistic minority) and issues of intersectionality (e.g. ageism and capcitism). A better understanding of these issues as experienced and reported by seniors themselves offers valuable avenues for improving health and social services practices for this population.
Presenters
Marie-Michèle LordProfesseur, Ergothérapie, Universite du Québec à Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada Helene Carbonneau
Professor, Leisure, Culture and Tourism, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada Joanie Theriault
Phd, Occupational Therapy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada Galaad Lefay
PhD, Occupational Therapy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Minority language seniors; Challenges; Health and well-being
