Older Immigrant Survey
After obtaining research ethics board (REB) approval from all affiliated agencies and Universities, data collection for the Older Immigrant survey was commenced. This round of data collection involved a quantitative survey of up to 900 Arabic, Mandarin, and Punjabi-speaking older immigrants from across the 9 city sites. The survey was made available in online and paper formats and can be self-administered or with support from a research assistant over the phone, Zoom, or in-person. Provincial coordinators and research assistants were hired in all 9 city sites to support this activity.
CLSA Data Analysis
As of September 2022, the CLSA team, led by Souraya Sidani (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Denise Cloutier (University of Victoria), completed the analysis of baseline and follow-up 1 data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). The data, gathered from around 7,600 older immigrants across rural and urban areas in seven Canadian provinces, explored the impact of personal, health, social, environmental, and immigration-related factors on social isolation, measured by loneliness and engagement in social activities. Depression and perceived life satisfaction were found to be the key factors influencing both loneliness and participation. The results of this project will indicate which of these factors are most influential; they will complement the findings of the Older Immigrant Survey in pinpointing the most important factors for intervention.
Community Partner Survey Report
Last spring, ICOI published a study on service providers’ views of social isolation risk factors among older immigrants, particularly in fast-growing East Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern communities in Canada. Providers from 38 ICOI partner agencies completed an online survey, which found that all respondents saw challenges in accessing health, social, and settlement services as key issues. Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey supported previous studies highlighting the ongoing need for better healthcare services for older immigrants.
2022 Webinar Series
Following the success of the Winter/Spring webinar series, ICOI’s Education & Training Committee, led by Sandeep Agrawal (University of Alberta), organized a Fall Webinar Series that took place every two weeks from September to December 2022. The sessions, focused on the Research Stream themes (Social, Economic, Political, and Geo-Spatial Inclusion), covered diverse topics. This series not only promoted information exchange within the ICOI team and the broader community but also helped advance our project’s knowledge mobilization objectives.
Year 3 Biennial Project Summary
The ICOI Year 3 Biennial Project Summit took place in-person at the University of Calgary, Alberta, from April 4-6. A total of 32 ICOI team members participated in person, while more than 50 others joined remotely via Zoom. We are thankful for the chance to come together, collaborate, and share valuable time.
Some key highlights from the summit included: collaborative work on refining the qualitative data collection interview guide, discussions on how observations might look in different cities and provinces, renewed commitments from team members towards knowledge mobilization efforts, insights shared directly by Community Partners about their experiences working with older immigrants, and, of course, the opportunity to strengthen connections within the team and foster a deeper sense of purpose.
