Summer Program in Aging (SPA) 2023
Longer-living older adults: Multidisciplinary approaches to a growing area of research on aging
Held during a much welcomed rainy and cool week, on the heels of two devastating wildfires in Halifax and Shelburne, Nova Scotia – the first post-pandemic, in-person Summer Program in Aging (SPA) took place from June 4th to June 9th, 2023. The Nova Scotia Centre on Aging, Mount Saint Vincent University, hosted the 2023 SPA at White Point Beach Resort located approximately two hours from Halifax on Nova Scotia’s beautiful South Shore. Attendees included 43 Canadian trainees, 5 trainees from Sweden, 9 mentors and several invited speakers (in person and online), and older adults.
The 2023 SPA was organized around the theme: Longer-living older adults: Multidisciplinary approaches to a growing area of research on aging. The program kicked off with a ‘meet and greet’ where trainees shared their areas of interest and fun facts about themselves. This was followed by a presentation including drumming and singing from a local Mi'kmaq leader who shared their values of Mother Earth, respect for elders and older people, and importance of the medicine wheel in their culture. Over the course of 5 days, trainees learned from national and international experts in the areas of population health, frailty, dementia, health equity, immunosenescence, continuing care, longitudinal studies, and knowledge translation. They participated in interactive presentations and activities with a key focus of the program being on enhancing proposal development skills.
Throughout the week, trainees worked with mentors in small groups focused on developing key aspects of a CIHR project proposal (e.g., EDI, sex and gender considerations, team expertise, ethics, knowledge mobilization plan, etc.) The group work sessions began with an interdisciplinary team building workshop led by Peak Experiences. The small groups were organized to include trainees from different disciplines and levels of study. Trainees presented their project proposal on the last day receiving feedback from a mentor and older adults who participated in the program. It was incredible to see the outcome of the trainees’ work in such a short time together and the unique approaches each group used for their final presentation.
Other skill-building presentations during the SPA week included sessions on plain language writing, sex, gender and EDIA, and qualitative and policy-oriented research. SPA trainees were introduced to national and international databases for researchers working with longer-living older adults (85+) including the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Canadian Community Health Survey, General Social Surveys, health administrative data sources, TULIPS Consortium and the Newcastle 85+ Study. There were also two panel discussions: one focused on knowledge translation/mobilization from both researchers’ and policy makers’ perspectives, and another on the experiences of early career scholars in academia and government.
Networking sessions with older adults as well as the mentors, and other renowned researchers and speakers were peppered through the week. Informal feedback from trainees shows that the level of access to people with lived experience during the program and the access to well-respected researchers in the field of aging was certainly a highlight of attending SPA 2023. We are hopeful that the connections made during this week will lead to some beautiful and brilliant future collaborations!
Trainees and mentors worked hard during their time at SPA, but they also enjoyed the local seafood, beautiful ocean and lake vistas, and an evening of great music and dancing with the local musical group Fiddles & Feet!
We thank all those involved in the planning and delivery of the SPA 2023.
Learn more about the SPA 2023
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