Aging in Rural Canada: A Retrospective and Review

Abstract

Research on rural aging has developed considerably since publication of the book Aging in Rural Canada (Butterworths, 1991). The purpose of this article is twofold: to provide a retrospective on issues in rural aging from this book, and to review Canadian literature on rural aging since its publication. The review highlights new directions in conceptual definitions of rural, and in issues of social engagement, independence, family and social networks, and rural services and health. Two main research lenses are evident. The marginalization lens focuses on rural seniors with health problems, but has not included those marginalized by poverty or gender. The aging-well lens focuses on contributions and engagement, but has omitted research on social relationships and quality of family interaction. The report includes a call for interrogation about interaction between people and place, and for understanding issues of rural diversity and processes of rural aging.

Sykepleieforskning i rurale områder i Norge; en scoping review

“…Reisetid til naermeste sykehus eller befolkede område Naerhet til sykehus er en viktig faktor for om et område anses som ruralt eller ikke (Keating, Swindle & Fletcher, 2011). Våre funn i denne studien viser til en beskrevet reisetid på mellom 45 og 240 minutter til sykehus (Tabell 4), men ikke alle studiene redegjør for om det er lokal-eller regionalsykehus.…”

“…Geografiske elementer, befolkningstetthet og avstander til ulike typer tjenester brukes hyppig for å definere om et område anses som ruralt eller ikke (Keating, Swindle & Fletcher, 2011). Statistics Canada's «rural and small town» definerer ruralt som; the population living in towns and municipalities outside the commuting zone of centers with a population of 10 000 or more (duPlessis, 2001).…”

A Smartphone-Based Cloud Computing Tool for Managing Type 1 Diabetes in Ontarians

“…Healthcare professionals can provide diabetes carerelated services using Cloud computing with patients in remote areas; patients with special needs (e.g. those aging or disabled) could stay at home and receive care (17) and treatments (5). As part of the collaboration strategy, patients with diabetes who are in remote regions could communicate synchronously and asynchronously with healthcare professionals concerning therapeutic issues (18e21) such as diabetes.…”

Challenging the myth of apocalyptic aging at the local level of governance in Ontario

“…From a spatial perspective, common themes related to the older population in human geography have included: explaining the geographic distribution of the elderly population (Rosenberg and Moore 1990;Moore et al 1997;Moore and Rosenberg 2001;Plane and Heins 2003;Rogerson and Kim 2005;Newbold and Filice 2006;Warnes and Williams 2006); access to services (Joseph and Hallman 1998;Everitt et al 2005;Cloutier-Fisher and Skinner 2006;Hanlon et al 2007b); housing for the elderly both in private homes and institutional settings (Andrews and Phillips 2000;Golant 2002;Andrews and Phillips 2004), and implications of population aging on public policy Skinner and Rosenberg 2005). Canadian geographers have also focused on the challenges of delivering health and social care services in the context of population aging and economic restructuring in remote, resource-dependent communities, mainly in rural Ontario and northern British Columbia (Hanlon and Halseth 2005;Allan and Cloutier-Fisher 2006;Hanlon et al 2007aHanlon et al , 2007bSkinner et al 2008;Keating et al 2011;. Within this literature, the increasing reliance on the voluntary sector and informal caregivers in response to health and social care restructuring has also emerged as a dominant theme (Skinner and Rosenberg 2005;Hanlon et al 2007a;Hanlon et al 2011;Joseph 2007, 2011;Ryser and Halseth 2011;Skinner and Power 2011;Joseph and Skinner 2012).…”