Senior Well Plan - Improving Seniors' Wellbeing with Science and Technology while utilizing community resources

New Brunswick’s population is aging rapidly, with significant implications for the healthcare system. Older adults are more likely to have multiple long-term illnesses and are more susceptible to declines in the physical and mental functions needed to complete everyday activities. These declines can be prevented or delayed through health education, healthy habits, and community supports. However, finding, coordinating, and understanding the information and services needed to age safely at home may be challenging, especially for older adults without existing community networks.

• Community health and wellness programs for older adults also tend to have a narrow focus, such as exercise/nutrition or smoking/alcohol use. Healthy aging depends on multiple factors at a time.

The Wellness 55™ program aimed to help older adults in New Brunswick learn about and improve their health and wellness status across physiological, psychological, and social domains by combining group education and in-person coaching with a digital app platform. The program was designed to address challenges related to limited access to primary care and use existing community/municipal services to help distribute/deliver the model.

• Participants were invited to meet with members of a clinical team for one-on-one coaching and attend virtual or in-person group education sessions based at one of five community hubs.
• The digital app platform offered learning modules and goal-setting activities.

The project evaluated changes in older adults’ health and wellness outcomes. Participants used a fitness tracker to better understand, monitor, and improve their health metrics. 182 older adults (141 females, 41 males) completed the six-month program. 33% of participants were between the ages of 55 to 64, 43% were ages 65 to 74, and the remaining 24% were ages 76 and older. The Wellness 55™ pilot project demonstrated need, interest, and efficacy for a geographically distributed program for wellness. The use of technology was largely successful and used for awareness, training, and accountability/ progress tracking.

• Project results suggest that the Wellness 55™ program was effective in improving seniors’ overall wellness and self-management of health conditions by engaging them in monitoring their health metrics and making behavioural/lifestyle changes.
• Social and community engagement supported program participation and outcomes. Participants expressed interest in more in-person group information sessions, and many participants joined or created wellness networks that were organized around other community services such as walking groups.
• The need/desire for one-on-one coaching meetings varied among participants. A better understanding of the needs of participants who require increased coaching services versus participants who opt for a more self-directed approach may result in program cost-efficiencies.

• Facilitate social engagement and peer support through more opportunities for in-person interaction.
• Leverage the social networks that emerged organically among participants to provide additional program resources (e.g., designated peer organizers).
• Adapt the program structure to account for variability in one-on-one coaching needs.
• Engage with participants to better understand fitness tracker use patterns while emphasizing the importance of consistent daily use.

To learn more read the complete project findings (PDF 156 KB)