Québec's international position in research on aging
MONTREAL, Nov. 9, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Fonds de recherche du Québec -
Santé (FRQS) is pleased to announce that three Québec teams
collaborating with European partners will be funded as part of a call
for proposals by ERA-AGE, a European network for research on aging.
Six international projects were selected to receive funding from the
network, including three initiatives involving teams in Québec. To be
eligible, the projects had to be presented by a team of researchers
from at least three different ERA-AGE member countries.
"We are very proud that three teams from Québec are among the
international groups that will receive funding from the European
research network on aging. Our researchers will work in close
collaboration with experts from across Europe to generate new knowledge
that will help our societies age in good health," affirmed Renaldo
Battista, scientific director of the FRQS.
The selection process was carried out in two phases. First, 35 teams—10
of which included researchers in Québec—presented letters of intent to
an evaluation committee. The committee then invited 12 groups to submit
complete applications. Québec researchers contributed to six of these
twelve projects. Funding was then granted to six initiatives, three of
which involve experts in Québec.
The teams from Québec will receive $506 000 in funding over three years
from the FRQS, in addition to sums from the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research and other ERA-AGE member organizations. The three
projects involving Québec researchers are focused on the environmental
influences on the mobility, social participation and wellbeing of
seniors, urinary incontinence in older women and the communication
problems experienced by seniors living in noisy environments.
Urban environments and aging
The Québec team taking part in the first project is led by Yan Kestens, a researcher at Université de Montréal. The experts will work in
collaboration with teams from Luxemburg and France. This international
initiative aims to better understand the elements of urban environments
that impact the mobility, social participation and wellbeing of
seniors. The initiative will also foster the development of an
international research platform on built environments and healthy
aging.
Research has shown that physical activity, social participation and
mobility are factors that affect healthy aging and depend on the built
environments in which seniors live. However, the influence of different
environments on healthy aging has not yet been fully elucidated.
Urinary incontinence in senior women
The second project is led by Cara Tannenbaum, a researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal.
It aims to alleviate the symptoms and stigma of urinary incontinence
through the implementation of a program to promote continence in
Québec, Alberta, France and the United States. In total, 800 women over
the age of 65 who suffer from incontinence will take part in the
initiative. The program will also be assessed according to four
specific targets: 1) improvement in continence; 2) impact of the
program on incontinence as a stigma and quality of life; 3) impact on
falls; 4) economic assessment to ensure the effectiveness and
usefulness of the program based on its cost and sustainability.
Urinary incontinence is highly common in senior women and leads to
significant social, physiological and physical (falls) problems.
Communicating better in noisy environments
Université de Montréal researcher Jean-Pierre Gagné will lead the Québec component of the third project, which aims to 1)
determine the situations in which seniors have difficulties
communicating; 2) develop means (protocols) to ascertain the nature of
the hearing or attention problems that contribute to these difficulties
(on an individual basis); 3) develop personalized hearing aids to help
surmount communication problems; 4) set out a list of standards to
improve communication environments; 5) assess the degree to which
objectives 2 and 4 improve quality of life and prolong active life in
seniors. The team will collaborate with groups in Israel, Finland, the
United Kingdom and Ontario.
A vast majority of seniors have difficulties communicating effectively
in noisy environments. Those affected may become uncomfortable in
social situations, causing them to exclude themselves from certain
activities.
About the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé
The Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS), which reports to the
Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology,
supports health research in order to foster the well-being of
Quebecers. Its mandate is to promote and provide funding for research,
to disseminate knowledge, and to contribute to training, as well as to
establish partnerships crucial to the development of Québec's research
and innovation system and its international reach. www.frqs.gouv.qc.ca
SOURCE: Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé