Seniors Health Research PSP

Seniors Health Strategic Clinical NetworkTM

Project Status

June 2019

It’s here! The Top 10 List has been announced 

We are pleased to announce the “Top 10 List” from the Alberta Seniors’ Health Research Priority Setting Partnership, conducted by the Seniors Health SCN in collaboration with the James Lind Alliance. We engaged with seniors, their caregivers, health and social care workers, and the organizations that represent these groups to identify the highest priority issues affecting seniors’ health in Alberta. People from across the province took part in generating, shortlisting, and ranking the topics they felt to be most important for future research to address. See the infographic below for a summary of the project.

Project Overview

Older adults are the fastest growing group in the Alberta population. Within 20 years, one in five Albertans will be 65 years of age or older.  Given our aging population, seniors’ health is an important issue for the healthcare system and Albertans. Seniors health covers a wide breadth of topics, and research studies contribute to our knowledge of health, illness, and disability. However, what we don’t yet know is what matters most to knowledge users and how those topics across seniors’ health might weigh against one another for priority-setting.

The Scientific Office of the Seniors Health Strategic Clinical Network™ (SCN) is undertaking a research priority setting process to answer these questions. Following the James Lind Alliance approach, the Seniors Health Research Priority Setting Partnership will engage a broad range of stakeholders to determine what is most important to seniors’ health in Alberta.

The Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) will:

  • Work with older adults (65+ years of age), caregivers of older adults (spouse; family member; friend; neighbour), and health/social care providers and representatives from agencies/groups working with older adults to identify what they see as important to seniors health in Alberta,
  • Agree by consensus on a prioritized list of topics most important for future research to address,
  • Publicize the results of the PSP and process, and
  • Take the results of the PSP to researchers and research funding to promote investigation and investment in the “Top 10 List” of prioritized topics.

The findings of this endeavour will set the foundation for future strategic planning related to the research supported and led by the Seniors Health SCN. For more information on this project, contact seniorshealth.scn@ahs.ca

Steering Group

The Seniors Health Priority Setting Partnership is overseen by a Steering Group. Their expertise and experience guide and direct the project at all stages. The Steering Group is comprised of older adults, caregivers of older adults, clinicians, agency representatives serving older adults, and members of the Seniors Health Strategic Clinical Network.

Declaration of interests:

Learn more, read the Steering Group Bios.

Partnering Organizations

We gratefully acknowledge the following partnering organizations. Partners help us to raise awareness of the PSP.

Project Documents