Seniors

After 12 years of study, lifelong learner John Bond graduates from U of T Mississauga at 76

siddiq22 — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 17:12:54 +0000

After 12 years of study, lifelong learner John Bond graduates from U of T Mississauga at 76

siddiq22 Thu, 06/08/2023 - 13:12

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John Bond – the oldest U of T Mississauga graduate this spring at 76 – acknowledges the applause at Convocation Hall during his graduation ceremony (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Kate Martin

Topic

Our Community

Convocation 2023

Graduate Stories

Classics

Engineering

History

Seniors

U of T Mississauga

Subheadline

Embracing the idea that "there's always something to learn," the retired engineer and travel enthusiast returned to U of T for a third degree

The thing about history is, it takes a while to happen.

In John Bond’s case, about 12 years, to be exact.

During the University of Toronto Mississauga convocation ceremony on June 7, Bond graduated with a double major in history and classical civilization after a dozen years of study. At 76, Bond is the oldest U of T Mississauga grad this spring – and among the oldest gradates at the university this year.

It was his third U of T graduation, having picked up a degree in engineering from the St. George campus in 1968, followed by a master’s degree in applied engineering.

A career as a civil engineer for a railway company followed, where he designed and inspected bridges for almost 40 years.

“Because of that, I was always interested in structures and the civil engineering of cities,” he said. “Then, when I went to Rome and saw the aqueducts, I wanted to know more.”

An avid traveller, Bond began reading about the places he would visit, which in turn led to more travel ideas for himself and his wife of 54 years, Lynda.

“I’d always had an interest in history, and we travelled to Europe and New York and there were so many interesting ancient sites and stories,” he said. “I wanted to get more acquainted with what I was seeing.”

John Bond walks across the stage at Convocation Hall (photo by Johnny Guatto)

As his personal research expanded, Lynda – who met John at U of T in the late 1960s, when she was majoring in history at Victoria College – made a suggestion.

“The advice from my wife was to ‘read with a purpose,’” he said.

And so, six years before retiring from his civil engineering job, Bond began taking courses at U of T Mississauga.

“I took one or two a semester, trying to do all the reading and assignments while still working,” he said.

“It wasn’t always easy to stay focused and interested, keeping up with the studying and combining what I have to do around the house,” he added jokingly. “Always have to help in the kitchen.”

His professors say he balanced it all well.

“John has been an excellent student – diligent with his research, curious to learn new things and always interested to hear what the other students think,” said Mairi Cowan, associate professor, teaching stream, in U of T Mississauga's department of historical studies.

Cowan noted that while she’s happy Bond is graduating, she’s going to miss having him in class.

“The other students and I have learned a lot from being with John in our courses,” she said. “Not only about the content of history, but also about how to approach our studies with enthusiasm and openness."

Though most of his classmates were closer in age to his two grandkids, Bond said interacting with them on campus was energizing.

“It’s great being among the young people,” he said. “They really make things interesting.”

And they enjoyed having him around as well, said Christopher Petrakos, associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of historical studies.

“The students in class seemed to gravitate towards him because of his intellect and wisdom,” Petrakos said.

“John Bond is the kind of student that every professor wants to teach – he is genuinely interested in learning, possesses an informed worldview and questions established interpretations of the past.”

Although Bond had been a U of T student before, quite a few things have changed since then, he notes.

“Everything is computers now for class,” he said with a laugh. “In the ’60s, it was all handwritten. Computers then came with boxes of punch cards.”

Once Bond retired, he was able to increase both his course load and his travelling – a combination which occasionally led to serendipitous opportunities.

“I missed a few classes in order to travel,” Bond recalls. “So I have fond memories of logging on to Quercus from hotel lobby computers in London and Rome to take the required quizzes. One Classical Civilization quiz that I answered in the Rome hotel was about sites and events in Rome.”

It also gave him chances to do his homework where it meant the most.

“I read Homer's Odyssey for a Classics course while sitting on our hotel patio overlooking the blue Mediterranean on the Amalfi Coast,” he said. “That’s the way to do it.”

Inspired by his studies and armed with a list of places to see, Bond and his wife are once again ready to explore the world. But he admits he may still have some studying left in him.

“Don’t think I need another major, but there are still some classes I’d like to take,” he said.

“You should never give up – always go for more education; get as much as you can. There are always new things to learn.”

'We’re all in this together': U of T researcher on the rise of ageism during the pandemic

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 19:45:51 +0000

'We’re all in this together': U of T researcher on the rise of ageism during the pandemic

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 06/09/2020 - 15:45

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(photo by NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Sean Bettam

Topic

Our Community

Coronavirus

Faculty of Arts & Science

Psychology

Seniors

When COVID-19 first emerged and began to spread, there was a rush to identify common characteristics shared by those infected. Geographic location, lifestyle and pre-existing health conditions were all early candidates for a distinguishing factor that would help predict who would be most susceptible.

It soon emerged that advanced age was likely a contributing factor in being vulnerable to the virus. Measures such as restricting the movement of anyone over the age of 70 came into effect in order to protect seniors from either contracting the virus or passing it on to others. And with that, some noticed a parallel outbreak of ageism and a rise in instances of prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of a person's age.

Professor Alison Chasteen in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, a behavioral scientist who specializes in stereotyping, prejudice and stigma across the lifespan, recently co-authored an editorial in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences on avoiding ageism and fostering solidarity between generations.

Chasteen spoke with Arts & Science’s Sean Bettam about what she and her colleagues have seen and their recommendations for how to ensure that seniors are supported during such uncertain times.

You’ve observed that, in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a parallel outbreak of ageism. Has the pandemic fueled the perpetuation of stereotypes of older people?

Ageism was already present in most countries. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the tendency to portray older adults in stereotypical ways. What we have been seeing from different sources, such as social media, the media and government officials around the world, is a portrayal of people aged 70 and over as unable to contribute to society, frail and helpless.

Public health officials and the media once suggested that older adults were most likely to be infected by COVID-19. Some jurisdictions even imposed restrictions on the movements of anyone over a certain age. How might such declarations impact the mental health of those in that demographic?

Segregation based on age reinforces the message that all older people are vulnerable and should be protected. These declarations can undermine older adults’ independence and feelings of competence.

Such policies ignore the fact that older adults are a heterogeneous group who vary greatly in terms of health status. As the pandemic has gone on, we now know that physical distancing measures are needed to protect people of all ages.

Are older adults the only ones being viewed as a homogeneous group when it comes to managing the pandemic? If so, why do you suppose that is?

It is certainly the case that in the early stages of the pandemic, the focus was on older adults and viewing them solely through the lens of their age. This was likely the case because of early data from other countries suggesting higher infection and mortality rates among older people. Yet, what we have seen in Canada is that almost half of the cases have occurred in people aged 30 to 59.

Have older people always been viewed with such generalizations and stereotypes or is it a relatively recent phenomenon?

Age stereotypes have long been applied to older adults. The term “ageism” was first coined in 1969, when it was recognized that prejudice based on age was a common occurrence.

What are the dangers in viewing older adults in such a uniform manner?

When we view members of a group as all the same, we are more likely to apply stereotypes to them. In the case of older adults, we are more likely to patronize them and treat them in a condescending manner. Our research has shown that older people report negative emotional effects from being disrespected and discounted.

At the same time, there are also dangers for younger age groups. We are all exposed to negative age stereotypes from childhood on and we may be more likely to apply those negative age stereotypes to ourselves when we grow older. 

Thinking about aging and older people in stereotypical ways can lead us to form negative expectations about our own aging experiences. This results in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy where we think age-related declines are inevitable and we do not attempt to alter the course of our own aging experiences.

In what ways are older people uniquely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? What do you think is the most challenging aspect for them to manage?

A major concern for older people is that social distancing, rather than just physical distancing, is happening. We know that loneliness and social isolation can have negative health consequences for people of any age. The fact that a focus has been placed on social isolating older adults means they might be at even greater risk of the negative effects of loneliness.

What can people of other generations do to better support seniors during this time?

We need to engage in physical distancing but not social distancing from our older family members, friends and neighbors. We can do this by finding ways to stay in touch – whether through chatting from people’s porches or across backyard fences, calling, teleconferencing or texting older people or even writing them a letter if they are not online.

Engaging in such intergenerational contact will not only reduce all of our feelings of loneliness but will help to counter age stereotypes and bring a sense of solidarity across age groups. Recognizing that we’re all in this together, no matter our age, is key.

With international partner, U of T launches research centre focused on robotics and elder care

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 16:38:55 +0000

With international partner, U of T launches research centre focused on robotics and elder care

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 06/04/2020 - 12:38

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Alex Mihailidis, U of T's associate vice-president, international partnerships, says the partnership with China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology will speed up development of new technologies (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Liz Do

Topic

Global Lens

China

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Faculty of Medicine

Global

Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering

Occupational Therapy

Robotics

Seniors

The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and the AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence has partnered with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China to launch a centre dedicated to researching and commercializing robotics for elder care. The centre will be virtually housed within the U of T Robotics Institute.

“We’re really excited to form this international partnership, which will allow us to speed up the development of better technologies and make an impact from both sides of the world,” says Professor Alex Mihailidis, associate vice-president, international partnerships, at U of T and a leading researcher in intelligent health systems for older adults.

Mihailidis is leading efforts alongside Professor Yan Fu at HUST. The joint centre has already gained an industry partner, robotics company UBTECH, which will provide support on various research projects, as well as commercialization.

“Both HUST and U of T are leaders in robotics research, so the marriage of the two promises to produce outstanding results,” says Fu. “With an increasingly aging population in China, and fewer younger family members to take care of them, robotics is going to play a vital role down the road.”

By 2030, Canadians over the age of 65 will make up 23 per cent of the population. And in China, seniors will make up 28 per cent of the population by 2040. Though these are future scenarios, the health-care challenges around aging populations can be felt today. One instance is the recent dispatch released by the Canadian military on living and working conditions of residents and health workers at long-term care homes in Ontario.

“This revelation underscores the kinds of critical gaps we see in elder care,” says Mihailidis, who envisions the centre helping to address these gaps by leveraging and catalyzing research already taking place at the two partner institutions.

Developed in Mihailidis’ lab, ‘Ed,’ the robot, helps guide seniors with dementia through everyday tasks (photo courtesy of the Intelligent Assistive Technology and Systems Lab)

At U of T Engineering, robotics research in elder care is led by faculty such as Mihailidis, whose team develops smart-home robotics for older adults, and Professor Goldie Nejat, who designs socially assistive robots that cognitively stimulate and promote social interaction in long-term care homes.

“We can take these projects, put them on the UBTECH robotic platform, work with our counterparts in China to do the same thing, test robots in our respective countries, and work towards making commercially viable products,” Mihailidis says.

Over the next year, Mihailidis hopes to expand the centre’s research cohort. And, once travelling restrictions are lifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he sees vast opportunities for student and faculty research exchanges.

“The possibility to work with HUST and with UBTECH – we have the opportunity to see some real-world impact,” says Mihailidis. “And if this partnership model is successful, it presents a novel approach for collaboration going forward at the university.”

'We care and are here for them': U of T students help seniors cope with distancing during COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 15:34:19 +0000

'We care and are here for them': U of T students help seniors cope with distancing during COVID-19

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/16/2020 - 11:34

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From left to right: Geoffrey Sem, Monisha Persaud and Daniel Lee are leading the push to recruit volunteers for a program that aims to reduce social isolation among seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic (photos courtesy of Faculty of Medicine)

Topic

Medical students at the University of Toronto have re-launched an online and phone program to reduce social isolation among seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students are helping to keep seniors connected with their communities by maintaining social relationships through weekly phone calls, improving health literacy with regards to COVID-19 and providing information about relevant community resources.

The program, called the Student-Senior Isolation Prevention Partnership (SSIPP), expands on a collaboration launched in early 2019 by medical students and Drs. Sabrina Akhtar, Tia Pham and Dominik Nowak.

Students Monisha Persaud, Geoffrey Sem and Daniel Lee are leading the new push for volunteers, which has attracted about 270 health-care students – more than 200 of whom are part of the MD program at U of T.

“In a crisis, there’s a constant barrage of bad news and fear in the media,” says Sem. “What isn’t as well captured is the enormous goodwill and kindness that people are willing to give.

“We were blown away by the number of volunteers who want to help, and we are so thankful for their selflessness.”

The team recently expanded volunteer duties and equipped students to answer frequently asked questions about COVID-19, complementing existing information on financial resources and mental health supports.

“In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, heightened physical distancing measures and visiting restrictions on long-term care facilities, social isolation is more prevalent than ever in our elderly populations – especially among those who are homebound or don’t speak English,” says Persaud.

The program normally matches volunteers with seniors on a longer-term basis, Persaud says. However, the approach has been adjusted as volunteers with the program’s COVID-19 response are only expected to be involved for the duration of the pandemic.

Seniors with an interest in the program can be referred by any member of their health-care team or by their long-term care homes.

The students note that social isolation was one of the most prevalent issues faced by seniors today, even before COVID-19.

“Not only does social isolation weigh heavy on the mental health of seniors, but it can have a drastic impact on their quality of life,” says Persaud. “It’s linked to an increase in vulnerability to health conditions such as chronic lung disease, cardiovascular issues, greater hospitalizations and mortality.”

With the help of program’s executive team, which consists of fellow medical students Tory O'Driscoll, Laura Diamond, Nitish Dhingra and Sumana Naidu, the goal of the group is to expand the program in Toronto and to assist with the formation of new chapters. So far, students have begun new chapters at more than 12 schools across Canada including Western University, University of Ottawa, University of Alberta, University of Manitoba, McMaster University, Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the University of British Columbia.

“We hope to show our seniors across the country that we care and are here for them,” says Lee. “Initiatives like SSIPP help to foster a sense of community, which is important for instilling hope in everyone during these uncertain and grim times.

“Volunteers build a sense of solidarity and collaboration, and together we are working to create a society that is socially accessible to everyone.”

There’s no one solution for treating depression in seniors: U of T expert

noreen.rasbach — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 16:42:23 +0000

There’s no one solution for treating depression in seniors: U of T expert

noreen.rasbach Tue, 12/19/2017 - 11:42

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Almost one in 10 seniors suffers from clinical depression, a rate that doubles in long-term care homes (photo by BSIP/UIG via Getty Images)

Topic

Depression is prevalent in older people and is often a greater challenge to treat, says Dr. Alastair Flint, a professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.

Almost one in 10 seniors suffers from clinical depression, a rate that doubles in long-term care homes, Flint writes in this week's edition of Doctors' Notes, the Toronto Star's weekly column created by U of T medical experts.

Read previous Doctors' Notes columns from U of T medical experts

“And a growing body of research suggests if you suffer from depression, you’re at a higher risk of developing memory loss or dementia,” writes Flint, who is also a geriatric psychiatrist at the University Health Network and a senior scientist in the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute.

But treating depression in older people can be tough: They often find it hard to tolerate medications, and side-effects can be severe, he writes. Seniors often take a lot of medications that can interact badly, and older people often are more forgetful, skipping some medications or taking them improperly.

Flint writes that he and his colleagues have launched a five-year study named OPTIMUM to study two strategies commonly used for treating older adults with difficult-to-treat depression – switching to a new medication, or continuing with the first medication and adding a second one.

Flint’s team is working with scientists in Canada and the U.S., with the hopes of recruiting 1,500 seniors with treatment-resistant depression.

“Right now, we don’t really have any evidence to show which is the best approach to help older adults, so my colleagues and I want to fix that,” Flint writes.

Read the full Doctors' Notes column in the Toronto Star

Teaching in the community: Free course introduces Toronto residents to U of T's most famous scholars

Romi Levine — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 16:45:38 +0000

Teaching in the community: Free course introduces Toronto residents to U of T's most famous scholars

Romi Levine Thu, 11/23/2017 - 11:45

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Anne Innis Dagg tells students about her research and about her parents Harold Innis and Mary Quayle Innis (photo by Romi Levine)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Humanities

Senior College

Seniors

On a Wednesday night in November, students file into a small classroom at University of Toronto’s Innis College, eagerly anticipating the start of a weekly lecture.

But this isn’t your typical university class. There are no assignments, exams or tuition, and the average attendee is decades older than the undergrads who usually fill the seats.

The students are here for a ten-week course offered twice a year called University in the Community. The free program is aimed at Torontonians who have never been to university, but is open to anyone.

It’s an initiative by non-profit adult education organization Workers’ Educational Association, in partnership with U of T’s Innis College and Senior College, a community of retired academics and librarians at the university.

“University in the Community … is helping you explore the questions about the nature of the world you live in that are at the heart of university inquiry,” says University Professor Emeritus Peter Russell, of the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science and principal of Senior College. “For people who for one reason or another don't get to university, it's a fabulous opportunity for them to have that experience in a university setting.”

Learn more about University in the Community

People come from all over the city to take the classes, many of whom are newcomers to Canada or immigrated long ago.

“We are quite a United Nations,” says University in the Community student Nenke Jongkind.

The courses have amassed a loyal following since they started in 2003.

For Severino Centritto, who has participated in the program for 13 years, University in the Community has helped him stay fluent in English, fight fake news with critical thinking and speak more knowledgeably about issues that affect him.

“It's a course without pressure and that is great because we learn more when we are not pressured,” he says.

This year, students are learning about members of the U of T community who helped the university become a world-renowned academic institution – including Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who co-discovered insulin, and trailblazing social historian Natalie Zemon Davis, a professor emerita in the department of history.

Read about another U of T community teaching initiative in Regent Park

Innis Dagg was looking forward to telling the class about her mother, who often gets overshadowed by her father’s celebrity.

“She was a completely amazing women,” says Innis Dagg.

In return for sharing their expertise, professors and other guests learn a lot from students.

“They are really interesting Canadians, interesting citizens of our city, having experiences and challenges that are interesting to hear about and discuss,” says Russell, a regular University in the Community speaker and a fan favourite.

Seniors who fall prey to scams have poorer cognitive skills, are less honest than those who don't: U of T research

lanthierj — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 17:28:14 +0000

Seniors who fall prey to scams have poorer cognitive skills, are less honest than those who don't: U of T research

lanthierj Mon, 04/17/2017 - 13:28

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Professor Kang Lee is one of the lead authors of the paper

Lindsey Craig

Author legacy

Lindsey Craig

Topic

Poorer cognitive skills are the main reason some seniors fall prey to scams, new research from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto shows.

But it’s not just limitations in their ability to think, learn and reason that leave some seniors vulnerable. Older victims of fraud also tend to be less conscientious and less honest than non-victims of the same age group, the researchers found.

“The results of this study were very surprising – they dispel a common belief about why some older people fall victim to fraud,” said one of the study’s lead authors, Dr. Kang Lee, professor at OISE’s Jackman Institute of Child Study and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair.

“People often think things like loneliness or trusting behaviours are the culprit,” said co-lead author and OISE doctoral researcher Rebecca Judges. “But this study shows that cognitive factors – not social factors – are the biggest difference between older adult victims and non-victims.”

‘The Role of Cognition, Personality, and Trust in Fraud Victimization in Older Adults’ was conducted with researchers from Ryerson University and published in the journal, Frontiers in Psychology last week. It involved participants in Ontario aged 60 and older who had not been diagnosed with any cognitive impairment and lived independently in their communities.

Participants were asked about 15 common types of consumer and mass marketing fraud including weight loss scams, advance free loans, lottery fraud, and emergency (or grandparent) scams.

The skills required to think, learn and reason

Everyday cognitive skills include such things as being able to perform simple calculations in one’s head, follow a conversation from start to finish, and remember events that took place over the past month.

“The same abilities that enable someone to do these tasks well may also be important for identifying and avoiding scams,” Dr. Lee said.

Conscientiousness, honesty, also a factor

Results also showed that older victims are less honest, less conscientious and have less humility than non-victims of the same age group.

Highly conscientious people carefully consider consequences of their actions, are very thorough in thorough in their work, and tend to work hard to achieve their goals, the researchers said. People with very low levels of conscientiousness, however, tend to act on impulse and neglect small details in their work and daily activities.

“These tendencies could cause them to impulsively agree to a scammer's requests, and ignore the minor details that could indicate a scammer's malicious intent,” said Judges.

People who are extremely honest are more likely to be genuine and avoid corruption, Lee said, while people with very low levels of honesty tend to be motivated to break rules and manipulate others for personal gain.

“It’s possible that less honest individuals view a scam as a way to experience personal financial gain in an unconventional way, and may not be as adverse to the underhanded nature of some scams,” he said.

Support needed to prevent decline of cognitive skills

Ryerson University researcher and U of T alumna Dr. Lixia Yang, who collaborated on the study along with PhD student Sara Gallant, said the results can play an important role in the prevention of fraud victimization in older people.

Judges agreed.

“For example, identifying the most important skills needed in financial decision-making and then working to prevent cognitive decline in those key areas could make an impact,” she said, also suggesting additional support be provided to those experiencing cognitive decline.

Canadians aged 60-69 most frequently targeted

Despite efforts to prevent fraud victimization, people in Western nations are collectively losing billions of dollars according to consumer groups like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and others.

In 2014, Canadians lost a reported $74 million to mass-marketing scams alone, and 60-69 year olds were the most frequently targeted group, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. In the same year, Americans lost $1.7 billion to various scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission, while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported losses of $82 million due to fraud.

Read about Kang Lee's research into babies and racial bias

Read about Kang Lee's NuraLogix

U of T researchers looking into how digital world is marginalizing seniors

ullahnor — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 20:54:45 +0000

U of T researchers looking into how digital world is marginalizing seniors

ullahnor Tue, 03/21/2017 - 16:54

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Assistant Professor Cosmin Munteanu and master's student Hiba Rafih are analyzing and assessing seniors, their relationship to technology

Kathleen O'Brien

Zoe Fine

Author legacy

Kathleen O’Brien and Zoe Fine

Topic

Faculty of Information

Technological advances are moving everyday tasks online – including banking, shopping, communicating, and refilling prescriptions – and many seniors can't keep up.

So researchers at U of T are looking at ways to help them avoid social isolation.

Cosmin Munteanu, an assistant professor at U of T Mississauga’s Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information, has teamed up with first-year master's student Hiba Rafih to research the issue.

They are analyzing and assessing seniors, their relationship to technology, and their access to information online.

“Many older adults are marginalized digitally,” says Munteanu, co-director of the Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab (TAGlab). “Facilitating their online participation may lead to a reduction of their social isolation, which will lead to several other indirect benefits," such as improving their health or finances.

But research into the extent of the problem is limited, he says.

Rafih explains that there's often a lack of data on senior citizens. For those aged 65 and over, their digital knowledge and habits increase their feeling of isolation, she says.

As they become socially isolated, it may become more difficult for them to reach out for help in navigating the Internet. Senior citizens’ social circles are typically small, or for older seniors, can be non-existent. This means that asking for assistance, or even knowing how to articulate a question regarding technology, can be a major roadblock for seniors attempting to use the Internet for social interaction, information, or tasks, Rafih says.

Society cannot fix the problem, she warns, until we identify who is vulnerable, and until then “the divide will continue to widen between seniors with low digital literacy and the exponential advancements made in technology.”

In Canada for the first time in our history, the number of people aged 65 years and older exceeds the number of children aged 0 to 14 years. In 2014, those aged 65 years and older were approximately four times the growth rate of the total population, demonstrating that senior citizens are a rapidly growing segment of the Canadian population.

Munteanu began collaborating with Rafih when she was an undergraduate student at U of T Mississauga’s Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology last year.

While the research project is in the pilot stage, the duo hope to identify major barriers, and what society might do to address seniors’ lack of access to technology, and how that affects their social circles, and quality of life. Munteanu hopes their research will reduce adults' digital marginalization, spread cyber safety awareness and knowledge, and increase online participation among seniors.

U of T sociologist maps the social networks of seniors

lavende4 — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 14:26:58 +0000

U of T sociologist maps the social networks of seniors

lavende4 Fri, 09/02/2016 - 10:26

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Seniors need strong social networks, says Markus Schafer (Photo by Diana Tyszko)

Peter McMahon

Author legacy

Peter McMahon

Topic

Breaking Research

Sociology

Faculty of Arts & Science

Seniors

social networks

If you’re 18, you likely spend a lot of time cultivating your social network, but what if you’re 80?

According to University of Toronto sociologist Markus Schafer, the social networks of senior citizens play a key role in their overall health.

Schafer decided to study networks in seniors after he spent 2005 living in a retirement residence as part of a partnership between a gerontology program at Purdue University, where he was completing his PhD, and a local continuing care community. After living among these residents for a year, he set out to interview each person in the community.

As part of his survey, Schafer asked seniors to name the people they spent time with and with whom they discussed important matters.

This created an inventory of friends and social contacts for each member of the retirement community.

He then mapped out how seniors interacted in their community and explored the connections between social networks and health.

Schafer found that people who were in poor health tended to have smaller social circles and to aspire to friendship with healthier peers – even as many of those healthy seniors did not reciprocate their desire for friendship. People in better health, on the other hand, tended to be more popular, to be identified as a friend without themselves endorsing the friendship and to have a more diverse range of social connections.

“The healthier people were, the more selective they seemed to be about their social circles,” Schafer says.

In another set of studies using nationally representative survey data, Schafer found that further evidence indicated that size isn’t the only consideration for older adults’ social networks. The internal wiring of one’s network structure— how people’s network members are themselves connected to each other—also seems to matter.

He found that in social networks that are very interconnected – in which a senior’s friends also know one another – there is less chance of the senior experiencing mistreatment.

“There was less likelihood of elder abuse. When there is a tight-knit network, seniors have less chance of being bullied, taken advantage of financially, or physically abused,” Schafer says.

The importance of Schafer’s work is being noticed: he recently received the Province of Ontario’s Early Research Award, given to academics in the first five years of their career.

Funding from the award will support his team of graduate students as they seek to understand how various aspects of older adults’ social networks shape their health and how different facets of physical and mental health shape different properties of their social networks. “The goal of the project is to better understand the reciprocal, back-and-forth relationship between networks and health in later life”, says Schafer.

To that end, Schafer and his students are conducting analyses on data from a number of well-respected North American surveys that span many years.

Interpretation of this data could shed further light on how social networks and health interact from childhood to old age.

Schafer and his team also plan to interview seniors across the Greater Toronto Area to explore how Torontonians retain a high quality of life in later years. He plans to examine whether seniors’ networks operate differently across various neighbourhood contexts and is especially interested in the experience of older adults in gentrifying areas of the urban core and in Toronto’s inner suburbs.

Helping seniors feel safer online: new research from University of Toronto

sgupta — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 09:41:22 +0000

Helping seniors feel safer online: new research from University of Toronto sgupta Thu, 02/25/2016 - 04:41

Cutline

Cosmin Munteanu says money lost by seniors to online scams is consistent with losses by the general population “but seniors see themselves as targets, and this makes them marginalized in online activities.”

Blake Eligh

Author legacy

Blake Eligh

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“If we make the Internet friendlier for seniors, we could make it friendlier for everyone”

The University of Toronto's Cosmin Munteanu wants to help seniors feel safer and more confident when using the Internet.

“Seniors are afraid of being vulnerable to scams,” Munteanu says. “This prevents them from accessing enhanced services from trusted providers, such as banks or health care services, which is an important part of maintaining their independence.”

An assistant professor with the U of T Mississauga’s Institution for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology department, Munteanu examines the barriers older adults face in adopting online technology. As co-director of the Technologies for Aging Gracefully lab (TAG lab) on the downtown Toronto campus, he investigates how aging adults access and use technology, and how technologies might be adapted to better suit their needs.

Munteanu recently won funding to study how seniors are using web services, and what barriers they face in getting online to manage critical information like health and financial services.

“We realized that for older adults, fear related to safety around technology was a barrier to adoption,” Munteanu says. “We found that seniors demonstrate a reluctance to participate in online activities because there’s a notion that their online safety will be exposed.”

“In Canada and the U.S., seniors are very active online users, but there’s still a huge digital divide,” he says. “They have access to the Internet, they use it, but they don’t take full advantage of what’s available to them.” Munteanu says that social isolation caused by lack of digital participation could affect 40 to 50 per cent of seniors.

“There’s an inherent fear that this isn’t a safe place for them to manage this information or activity.”

Current research into senior use of technology doesn’t cover perceptions of safety, Munteanu notes. “The statistics tell us that $10-million is lost every year by Canadian seniors in online scams. This is in proportion with the general population. But seniors see themselves as targets, and this makes them marginalized in online activities.”

Personal services are increasingly managed online, including tasks such as filing taxes, accessing investment statements and renewing library books and drug prescriptions. “It becomes even more important to make the online world a safe and navigable space for senior users,” Munteanu says.

“We’re focusing on medical information, personal information (such as pensions), and some online transactions. We’re looking at what kind of authentication would be perceived as the most trustworthy way to access those services, including biometric authentication, traditional login screens and third-party providers.”

Munteanu hopes the findings will result in better, safer ways to get seniors online, such as a senior-friendly web browser, or the development of a third-party service manager. “If we make the Internet friendlier for seniors, we could make it friendlier for everyone.”

Munteanu’s research is funded through UTM’s Research and Scholarly Activity Fund. He is cross appointed to the Faculty of Information and the department of computer science at U of T.

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