Expandable List
Identifying effective interventions to improve quality of life for older adults is a public health priority because of the unprecedented aging of the population. Little is known about effective community-based primary health care interventions for older adults with health and social complexity as they are often excluded from community-based trials. Moreover, recent Canadian evidence identifies important gaps in the delivery of chronic disease prevention and management strategies in this population.
ACHRU was created with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Community-Based Primary Health Care Signature Initiative and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health System Research Fund Program Award. ACHRU continues to build on this research program with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Pan-Canadian SPOR Network in Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations (PIHCI), Labarge Centre for Mobility and Aging, McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), and Diabetes Action Canada.
The research program has been developed through extensive collaboration with local, provincial and national decision-makers, providers and older adults. Their commitment to the program will enhance the ability to scale up the results. This research program will result in knowledge that can be used to guide health services policy decisions and the allocation of resources in community-based primary health care for older adults across Canada. Ultimately, this research will develop a model for incorporating effective and efficient chronic disease prevention and management practices that are sustainable through partnerships with community partners and knowledge users.
Training opportunities are provided for trainees, new investigators, health professionals, and all team members. Integrated knowledge translation events are held and other collaborative knowledge translation strategies are used to share study results with key stakeholders and to plan ways to implement successful programs more widely.
