Learning to provide better care for older adults never gets old

Canada’s population is aging faster than ever before, while living longer than previous generations. Most health and social support workers know that healthy aging means staying socially connected, maintaining or increasing physical activity, eating well and minimizing risks of falling. However, stressing prevention is not all that is required when caring for the senior population.

As the baby boomers swell the ranks of senior citizens, the number of older adults with substance use, mental health and gambling problems will increase. When these problems occur in older adults, they often go unrecognized or are mistaken for signs associated with aging or other problems. As a result, problems that may be reversible or treatable are not considered.

When problems are identified, the stigma associated with the condition often prevents older people from talking about it and from seeking help. However, they often do as well or better than their younger counterparts when they are treated for these problems.

Existing systemic and social barriers to older adults seeking and receiving treatment can be eliminated by clinical and community support workers who understand this population and its needs.

To provide the information, tools and guidance that service providers need to work more effectively with older adults with substance use, mental health or gambling problems, CAMH has published Improving Our Response, developed by CAMH’s Healthy Aging Project.

Formed in 2002 with community partners, the Healthy Aging Project has already produced Responding to Older Adults with Substance Use, Mental Health and Gambling Challenges – A Guide for Workers and Volunteers.

Knowing how to help or how to best direct other staff to help older people with substance use, mental health or gambling problems is often difficult. Some service providers feel it is “too late” for older people to change or that working with people with these types of problems is not their responsibility. Others want to help, but feel that the resources they have at hand are inadequate, that they lack specific expertise or that they cannot begin to offer what is needed. People who provide health and social services to older adults can prepare for the challenges the increase in the number of older adults will present. Their roles offer a unique and important opportunity to intervene and have a positive impact.

Improving Our Response is the second guide to be produced by the Healthy Aging Project, according to Jennifer Barr, Project Leader and CAMH Program Consultant, Provincial Services, Eastern Ontario. It’s aimed at professionals who work with older adults while the earlier publication, Responding to Older Adults, was directed at personal support workers, volunteers and others who provide direct personal services to older adults.

“The Kirby report suggests strongly that this special population requires specialized service, and seniors have been named as a priority in most LHINs,” Jennifer says. “There’s no question that service providers will have an ever-increasing need for these kinds of resources as our older population grows.”

Improving Our Response is for professionals who work with older adults, including nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, educators and management staff in community support services, retirement and long-term care homes. It’s also a useful resource for mental health and addiction treatment providers.

This comprehensive resource includes:

• an overview of alcohol use, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, tobacco use and other problems as they appear in older adults

• a selection of screening tools that can be used to help identify problems

• practical guidance on building a relationship, adopting a holistic approach and advocacy for older adults

• an introduction to the recovery, harm reduction and stages of change models as guiding principles of care

• ways to guide and support staff, families and others who care for older adults with these problems

• information on referring to specialized addiction and mental health treatment services

• case studies and practical strategies for complex situations

• information sheets for older adults and their families on substance use, mental health and gambling.

It’s unavoidable; we’ll all get older. Learning to deliver the appropriate care now and building it into daily practice will help to create new treatment norms/models for the future. Healthy aging will be in reach for us all.

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