The Brenda Strafford Centre on Aging's Aging Matters newsletter features University of Calgary aging-related research, education, and community initiatives. We hope you find this newsletter informative and engaging. | | |
This past year, the Centre on Aging made major strides in creating a more age-inclusive campus by beginning to translate findings from our age-friendly university assessment into meaningful action. This includes leading projects to enhance aging-related content in undergraduate education, ensuring students gain the knowledge and skills needed to effectively support an aging population.
We also continued to demonstrate our commitment to advancing aging-related research by supporting 37 projects across seven disciplines. Our return to the Foothills Campus deepened our connections across the University and enhanced our impact on aging research and education.
We are excited to carry this momentum forward in the year ahead.
| | Not Just a Round of Golf: The Co-Creation of an Inclusive Golf Program and Participants' Experiences and Program Outcomes | | | | Individuals with dementia and their care partners often experience barriers to being physically active and socially connected, both of which are important for well-being. To help address these barriers, the City of Calgary developed Fore! The Love of Golf, a golf program for people with dementia and their care partners to participate in together. A research team from UCalgary, led by Dr. Meghan McDonough in the Faculty of Kinesiology, studied the co-creation of the golf program, participants' experiences, and program outcomes. | | |
Many participants with dementia felt empowered by the opportunity to golf again and enjoyed connecting with others they could relate to. While some felt nervous about their golf skills or experienced challenges when the program did not fully align with their needs or goals, they still described the overall experience as very positive.
Care partners found that support from staff and volunteers helped create a safe, welcoming environment and offered a much-needed break from some of their caregiving responsibilities. They also received emotional support through meaningful social connections and found validation and insight by seeing how others navigated similar dementia-related challenges.
Most participants were retired and all were straight couples, where the husband exhibited moderate cognitive impairments and the wife had a relatively high level of caregiving responsibility. This suggests the program may have been particularly attractive to those with moderate levels of dementia.
Informed by insights from this research, the City of Calgary developed a toolkit for recreational programing for individuals with dementia. They also expanded their program offerings for people with dementia to include gentle fitness and yoga classes, in addition to continuing their golf program.
| | At the Limits of Care: Gendered Work and Stories that Matter | | |
For author and UCalgary assistant professor of sociology Dr. Janna Klostermann, reaching her limits and resigning from care work felt like a crisis of self. In the aftermath of this upheaval, this is the book she needed to write.
Drawing on in-depth life history interviews with women ages 27 to 78 in Ontario, Canada, Klostermann enacts a “counter politics of care” approach that centres untold and lesser-told stories of care work. She pushes readers to rethink gendered power dynamics, question prevailing tropes of care, and imagine more equitable, emancipatory futures.
At the Limits of Care is available for pre-order!
Indiebookstores.ca - Available here
Indigo.ca - Available here
University of Toronto - Available here
| |
July 28, 2025
Worried about Alzheimer's? Start walking, according to a new 10-year study
Read more
|
June 20, 2025
'Nothing threatening about it': U of C study explores how robots could address social isolation in seniors
Read more
|
June 20, 2025
Class of 2025: Continuing education graduates prove it's never too late to start something new
Read more
| | Research Participation Opportunities | | |
Developing quality indicators for substance use disorders in Alberta to improve care
Learn more
| | |
Transforming phone line and text support for service users across Canada
Learn more
| | |
Understanding change in women's brains through EEG scans
Learn more
| | Visit the UCalgary database for more research participation opportunities: | | | |
Dementia & Brain Health Research Mixer
3:30 - 5:30 pm | September 15, 2025
Greater Forest Lawn 55+ Society, Calgary, AB
Learn more
| | | National, Provincial, and Local News | | |
More women get Alzheimer's than men. It may not just be because they live longer
August 10, 2025
Read more
| | |
Early menopause linked to Alzheimer's risk, say scientists
August 8, 2025
View here
| | |
Getting young and old people to dance together boosts health and reduces age discrimination-new research
August 6, 2025
Read more
| | |
Extreme heat silently accelerates aging on molecular level
June 25, 2025
Read more
| | International Federation on Ageing: Global Survey | | |
Are you aged 60 or older? Help shape the future of healthy aging by sharing your lived experience in a global survey conducted by the International Federation on Ageing, a non-governmental organization aiming to improve the lives of older people and influence age-related policy.
Survey insights will guide actions over the next five years to improve how policies, services, and communities support older people to live with dignity, purpose, and choice.
| |
Want to learn more?
Visit the website or contact communications@ifa.ngo
| | The survey is anonymous, and will close on September 30, 2025. | | |
The Brenda Strafford Centre on Aging is an interdisciplinary, cross-faculty hub at the University of Calgary, with a mission to foster innovations that improve the health and well-being of older adults by catalyzing connections and collaborations through research and education. Our vision is to achieve optimal health and well-being for older adults.
The University of Calgary, located in the heart of Southern Alberta, both acknowledges and pays tribute to the traditional territories of the peoples of Treaty 7, which include the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprised of the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). The City of Calgary is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta (Districts 5 and 6).
| | | | |
