Food insecurity among Canadian youth and young adults: insights from the Canada Food Study

ObjectiveThis study explored associations between socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported health, and household food security among young adults.MethodsNational cohort study participants from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Halifax, Canada, aged 16–30 years (n = 2149) completed online surveys. Multinomial logistic regression, weighted to reflect age and sex proportions from the 2016 census, was conducted to examine associations between food security status and covariates.ResultsAlmost 30% of respondents lived in food-insecure households, with 19% in “moderately” food-insecure and 10% in “severely” food-insecure households. Respondents identifying as Black or Indigenous were more likely to live in moderately (AOR = 1.96, CI: 1.10, 3.50; AOR = 3.15, CI: 1.60, 6.20) and severely (AOR = 4.25, CI: 2.07, 8.74; AOR = 6.34, CI: 2.81, 14.30) food-insecure households compared with those identifying as mixed/other ethnicity. Respondents who found it “very difficult” to make ends meet were more likely to be moderately (AOR = 20.37, CI: 11.07, 37.46) and severely (AOR = 101.33, CI: 41.11, 249.77) food insecure. Respondents classified as “normal” weight (AOR = 0.64, CI: 0.43, 0.96) or overweight (AOR = 0.53, CI: 0.34, 0.83) were less likely to be moderately food insecure compared with those affected by obesity. Compared with “very good or excellent,” “poor” health, diet quality, and mental health were each positively associated with severe food insecurity (AOR = 7.09, CI: 2.44, 20.61; AOR = 2.63, CI: 1.08, 6.41; AOR = 2.09, CI: 1.03, 4.23, respectively).ConclusionThe high prevalence of correlates of food insecurity among young adults suggests the need for policies that consider the unique challenges (e.g., precarious income) and vulnerability associated with this life stage.     

Social norms and vaccine uptake: College students’ COVID vaccination intentions,attitudes, and estimated peer norms and comparisons with influenza vaccine

BackgroundVaccination may be critical to curtailing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, but herd immunity can only be realized with high vaccination coverage. There is a need to identify empirically supported strategies to increase uptake, especially among young adults as this subpopulation has shown relatively poor adherence to physical distancing guidelines. Social norms – estimates of peers’ behavior and attitudes – are robust predictors of health behaviors and norms-based intervention strategies may increase COVID vaccine uptake, once available. This study examined the extent that vaccination intentions and attitudes were associated with estimated social norms as an initial proof-of-concept test.MethodIn November of 2020, 647 undergraduate students (46.21% response rate) completed online surveys in which they reported intentions to get COVID and influenza vaccines, perceived importance of these vaccines for young adults, and estimated social norms regarding peers’ vaccination behaviors and attitudes.ResultsStudents reported significantly greater intentions to get a COVID vaccine (91.64%) than an influenza vaccine (76.04%), and perceived COVID vaccination as significantly more important than influenza vaccination. The sample generally held strong intentions to receive a COVID vaccine and thought that doing so was of high importance, but participants, on average, perceived that other young adults would be less likely to be vaccinated and would not think vaccination was as important. Multiple regression models indicated that estimated social norms were positively associated with participants’ own intentions and perceived importance of getting a COVID vaccine.ConclusionsThese significant associations highlight the potential value in developing and testing norms-based intervention strategies, such as personalized normative feedback, to improve uptake of forthcoming COVID vaccines among young adults.     

Older adolescents and young adults willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine: Implications for informing public health strategies

ImportanceThe success in ending the COVID-19 pandemic rests partly on the mass uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. Little work has been done to understand vaccine willingness among older adolescents and young adults. This is important since this age group may be less likely to adhere to public health guidelines.ObjectiveTo understand willingness of getting a vaccine and reasons for vaccine hesitancy among a sample of older adolescents and young adults.DesignData were from the Well-Being and Experiences study (The WE Study), a longitudinal community-based sample of older adolescents and young adults collected from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from 2017 to 2020 (n = 664).SettingThe study setting was a community-based observational longitudinal study.ParticipantsParticipants for the study were aged 14 to 17 years old at baseline in 2016–17 (n = 1000). Data were also collected on one parent/caregiver. Waves 2 (n = 747) and 3 (n = 664) were collected in 2019 and 2020, respectively.ExposuresThe main exposures were sociodemographic factors, health conditions, COVID-19 knowledge, and adversity history.Main OutcomesThe main outcomes were COVID-19 vaccine willingness, hesitancy, and reasons for hesitancy.ResultsWillingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine was 65.4%. Willingness did not differ by age, sex, or mental health conditions, but did differ for other sociodemographic characteristics, physical health conditions, COVID-19 knowledge, practicing social/physical distancing, and adversity history. The most common reasons for not wanting a vaccine were related to safety, knowledge, and effectiveness. Sex differences were noted.Conclusions and RelevanceIncreasing uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among older adolescents and young adults may rely on targeting individuals from households with lower income, financial burden, and adversity history, and generating public health messaging specifically aimed at vaccine safety, how it works to protect against illness, and why it is important to protect oneself against a COVID-19 infection.     

Good practices in health promotion for older people – Significance for evidence in health policy

This article is devoted to convincing policy makers to use good practices in encouraging older people to pursue adequate and effective health policies. Long-term scientific research focused on the effects of health promotion programmes is rarely undertaken, although its scope is still expanding. At the same time, it is strongly desirable to form health policy based on scientific evidence. In this situation, an indication of good practices characterised by precisely defined features and their systematic evaluation could be an alternative to an insufficient number of empirical studies. The first step of the methodology was a literature review on health promotion for older people, aimed at defining good practices and criteria used for their selection. The authors searched the following databases: PubMED, Embase and Cochrane Library, as well as international databases dedicated to health promotion programmes for older people (e.g. Age-friendly World ( https://extranet.who.int/agefriendlyworld/age-friendly-practice-database-launched ); HealthProElderly ( www.healthproelderly.com/database/index.php?id=16 ); JA-CHRODIS ( www.chrodis.eu ); EuroHealthNet ( www.eurohealthnet.eu ) and ProFouND; ( www.profound.eu.com ). As relevant health policy information is usually available in national languages, the authors then approached national experts in 10 European countries, who filled in a dedicated survey on health promotion programmes for older people and indicated examples of good practices from their countries. Practical evidence, based on real implemented programmes, is valuable as inspiration for health promotion programmes, their planning and management. Selecting good practices from among implemented and evaluated actions makes it possible to establish their value. The significance of good practices in health promotion is to deliver real benefits and health effects for a target group, which, in the case of evident benefits, renders the practices credible and worthy of further dissemination. The EU already successfully shares good practices in migrant health and environmental protection. Creating databases on good practices helps policy makers promote the sustainability of already implemented activities and enhances their applicability by other organisations and in different settings.     

Community care staff attitudes towards delivering a falls prevention exercise intervention to community care clients

Millions of older people world-wide receive community care services in their home to assist them to live independently. These services often include personal care, domestic assistance and social support which are delivered by non-university trained staff, and are frequently long term. Older people receiving community care services fall 50% more often than individuals of similar age not receiving services. Yet, few ongoing community care services include exercise programs to reduce falls in this population. We conducted an earlier study to examine the feasibility of community care staff delivering a falls prevention program. A critical finding was that while some of the assessment and support staff responsible for service delivery delivered the falls prevention exercise program to one or two clients, others delivered to none. Therefore, the aim of this qualitative sub-study was to understand reasons for this variation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participating support staff and assessors from 10 community care organisations. Staff who had successfully delivered the intervention to their clients perceived themselves as capable and that it would benefit their clients. Older clients who were positive, motivated and wanted to improve were perceived to be more likely to participate. Staff who had worked at their organisation for at least 5 years were also more likely to deliver the program compared to those that had only worked up to 2 years. Staff that did not deliver the intervention to anyone were more risk averse, did not feel confident enough to deliver the program and perceived their clients as not suitable due to age and frailty. Experienced staff who are confident and have positive ageing attitudes are most likely to deliver falls prevention programs in a home care organisation.     

Community-living older people’s interpretation of the Norwegian version of older people’s quality of life (OPQOL) questionnaire

The aim of this study is to investigate how community-living older people interpret the Norwegian version of Older People's Quality of Life (OPQOL) questionnaire. The original OPQOL questionnaire was translated based on guidelines for cross-cultural translation. The Three-Step Test-Interview instrument was adopted to investigate how community-living older people interpreted the questionnaire. Data were collected from 14 participants (72–89 years). The questionnaire was filled in under observation. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to clarify the observational data and elicit the participants’ experiences and opinions. Lastly, data were analysed using a hermeneutic interpretation approach. Our findings indicate that most of the participants managed to complete the OPQOL questionnaire without problems. The data analysis resulted in four primary themes: relevance & applicability, formulation, consistency & accuracy and subjectivity. The questionnaire covered all aspects related to the participants’ quality of life. However, statements related to religion were found to be irrelevant to their quality of life. Most of the participants thought that religion, philosophy and culture should be separate rather than included in the same statement. The participants missed the option of ‘not applicable’ when the statements were irrelevant to them. The statements are formulated in both positive and negative ways, which was sometimes confusing to them. The participants perceived phases such as “around me” “local,” and “things” as ambiguous, and thus they raised concerns about whether the OPQOL questionnaire could capture consistent data regarding their quality of life. The results of this study pinpoint the issues that community-living older people faced when interpreting and answering the Norwegian version of OPQOL questionnaire. These issues were mostly caused by sociocultural differences. Our work provides an overview of the changes that must be made in the questionnaire in order to address these sociocultural differences while using the OPQOL questionnaire in the Norwegian context.     

The impact of community care services on the preference for ageing in place in urban China

This paper examines the relationship between community care services and ageing in place in urban China. Using data from the 2010 Sample Survey on Aged Population in Urban/Rural China, and within the framework of a revised version of Andersen's model, the paper applies multilevel models and analyses the effects of community care on the preference between ageing in place and institutional care, and reveals that ageing in place is preferred even in urban China. However, the existence of community care services had no significant effect on the preference for ageing in place. The paper concludes by arguing that China needs to develop its community care services and promote the idea of community care in both culture and policy. Realising ageing in place also requires a multidisciplinary approach. A model of shared care, between family and state, is particularly appropriate for China.     

What is the impact of day care on older people with long-term conditions: A systematic review

There is a lack of robust evidence regarding outcomes for day care use among older people living with long-term conditions (LTCs). Day care is provided by independent, private and voluntary and charitable sectors. This systematic review aims to establish current evidence of outcomes for older people with LTCs attending day care services and outcomes on carers, across all service models. Narrative synthesis of quantitative and qualitative data was undertaken. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A systematic literature search was carried out across eight electronic databases and reference lists of key journals between 2004 and October 2020 were searched. Searches returned 1,202 unique titles. Forty-five articles from 16 countries met the criteria on review of title, abstract and full article. There is limited evidence suggesting improved levels of perceived psychological health, quality of life, perceived general health, physical health and functioning for older people attending day care who have LTCs. The respite function of day care resulted in positive outcomes for carers. Studies evaluating outcomes for participants or carers were limited in quantity and quality. There is limited information regarding outcomes for day care attendance for older people with multiple LTCs from existing literature. Further research focusing on LTCs and day care attendance would benefit this field.     

Addressing alcohol and other drug use among young people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds: Perspectives of service providers in Melbourne,Australia

Young people from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds are recognised as emerging priority populations for reducing alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related harms in Australia. Limited research has investigated how service providers address AOD challenges in migrant communities. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 15 service providers from AOD, migrant support, community and other health services in a diverse region of Melbourne. Interviews explored the challenges that service providers faced and the strategies they implemented to engage with young migrants in relation to AOD use. Thematic analysis was used to generate four themes: stigma as a barrier to service delivery, intergenerational differences between young people and parents, the need for outreach and establishing trust and understanding over time. Service providers believed that stigma prevented many young people from migrant backgrounds having open conversations about their AOD use with family members and professionals. Participants perceived that some parents had less AOD-related knowledge and lower English language proficiency than their children creating challenges for effective communication. Service providers recognised the importance of engaging with young people in settings where they felt comfortable rather than expecting them to approach their service. Participants also acknowledged the need to invest time in establishing trust and understanding with young migrants so they could facilitate conversations about AOD use as relationships evolved. Although service providers had a strong understanding of young people's needs, they found it challenging to build relationships in the context of funding and time constraints. Our results indicate the need for long-term funding and timelines that enable service providers to build strong relationships with young migrants, their families and their broader cultural communities to facilitate access to AOD support.