Social Stressors, Cultural Factors and Psychological Distress Amongst First Nations Adults and Youth Living On-Reserve

by Jocelyn Paul, Dr. Amy Bombay and Dr. Robyn McQuaid

Abstract: Understanding health inequalities among older adults is imperative, especially as Canada’s population ages. Individuals in the lowest socioeconomic positions have the poorest health outcomes, and health outcomes improve in a stepwise fashion among those with higher socioeconomic positions – this is known as the social gradient of health. In health inequality research, self-rated health is a frequently used subjective measure of health that is strongly associated with future health outcomes. Objective measures of health, including physical capability measures such as chair rise time, which correlates with future mortality, may be a vital addition in studies of aging and health inequality. The overall goal of the proposed project is to explore the use of chair rise time as a measure of health in older adults. Specifically, we aim to investigate the association between self-rated health and chair rise times, and to assess whether the social gradient of health exists in chair rise times among older adults. We will use the most recently available, first follow-up data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CSLA) Comprehensive, over 30,000 participants aged 45-85 at the baseline, who completed both computer-assisted interviews and clinical and physical examinations, including physical capability tests. This study will show the potential use of a simple physical performance measure – chair rise times – for the assessment of health inequalities in the aging Canadian population.