Creative Solutions to Prepare for the Aging Population

Dr Clements-Cortes is an assistant professor, Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; instructor, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ryerson Chang School; music therapist; and registered psychotherapist. notesbyamy.com.
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I have been teaching a course called “Gerontology: Critical Issues and Future Trends” at the Ryerson Chang School for several years. Participants in this course include a variety of allied health care students in fields such as nursing, gerontology, social work, and urban planning among others. Students are either in their final undergraduate study years or returning professionals seeking to advance their careers. This composition builds an engaging classroom platform for the sharing of both students’ personal and professional knowledge. During each school term, I feel enriched by the enthusiasm and passion that the students bring to our online classroom in their efforts to pursue careers working with older adults.

Basically, the course explores the challenges and opportunities that an aging population presents. Multiple perspectives, including sociocultural, biological, and psychological perspectives, are explored in the context of the aging process. Some of the important concepts covered in the course are diversity in the aging process, the health care system in Canada, ageism, ethnicity and gender in aging, as well as the determents of health, cognition, retirement, social and community support, death and dying, and caregiving.

One of the course assignments is to work in groups to create a service that facilitates the continued independence of older adults. The idea is to create a service that enables older adults to remain in their communities. I have been privileged to see some wonderful initiatives for older adults, such as intergenerational programs, technology apps, and therapeutic recreation initiatives to name a few.

A course assignment that stood out this past summer was an intergenerational program designed to “purposefully bring together people of different generations in ongoing, mutually beneficial, planned activities” to achieve common goals.¹ The structure of this educational program aimed to encourage isolated rural seniors experiencing loneliness to regain a sense of meaning and purpose by participating in mentorship roles for students in grades 3-5, where they could exchange professional and/or personal knowledge and experiences. The program would run before or after school and in this way would also benefit families normally requiring paid childcare. The program would involve both structured and unstructured activities, group and pairs work, and would be overseen by a small group of interdisciplinary, allied healthcare professionals.

It is exciting to think about new possibilities to engage older adults in their communities and to help them stay in their homes as long as possible. As we are well aware, there are not sufficient long-term care residences in Canada at present, and this lack of housing is most likely going to increase. It is timely to consider innovative, integrative, and cost-effective services that could help older adults remain in their communities as long as possible.

Reference

1. DeVore S, Winchell B, Rowe MJ. Intergenerational Programming for Young Children and Older Adults. Childhood Education. 2016;92(3):216-225.

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Amy Clements-Cortes is Assistant Professor, Music and Health Research Collaboratory, University of Toronto; Academic Coordinator & Instructor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Ryerson Chang School; Instructor and Supervisor, Wilfrid Laurier University; Music Therapist and Registered Psychotherapist. Amy has extensive clinical experience working with clients at across the life span, with a specialty in older adults, dementia and palliative care. She has authored multiple peer reviewed publications, including her new 2016 book: “Voices of the Dying and Bereaved,” and she has given over 100 conference and/or invited academic presentations. Amy is President of the World Federation of Music Therapy (WFMT), and Managing Editor of the Music and Medicine journal. She is a past President of the Canadian Association for Music Therapists, and serves on the editorial review boards for 5 International journals. Notes By Amy was founded in 1995 and provides a variety of professional services including: Private Music Therapy, Psychotherapy, and Guided Imagery and Music Sessions; Performances; Clinical Music Therapy Supervision and Mentoring; Voice Lessons; Music Therapy Courses; and Research Collaboration.