Identifying and Understanding the Health and Social Care Needs of Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions and their Caregivers: A Scoping Review

Canadians are living longer, however, many older Canadians do not experience good health and wellbeing as they age. Older adults are at a high risk of having multiple chronic conditions (MCC), otherwise known as multimorbidity. Many older adults with MCC live with complex health issues that adversely affect their day-to-day functioning and overall wellbeing. As a result, they rely on the support of caregivers to complete daily activities. Caregiving for older adults, without the appropriate help, can negatively affect an individual's financial and emotional wellbeing. Currently, not enough is known about how best to identify, understand and meet the needs of older adults with MCC, or the needs of their family caregivers. This study will contribute to minimizing the existing gap in knowledge. Our proposed project will provide much needed evidence to support current efforts to improve the Canadian healthcare system and ensure that older adults with MCC, and their caregivers, receive appropriate, equitable and cost-effective health and social care. Our project team is comprised of patients, their family members, researchers, healthcare providers and policy and health system administrator decision makers, from Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec and Saskatchewan. Our research will offer an overview of the existing evidence on the health and social care needs of older adults with MCC and their caregivers, as well as evidence about how best to determine and understand these needs. Findings from our work will directly support the development and implementation of Primary & Integrated Health Care Innovations (PIHCI) tailored to meet the needs of diverse individual, and groups of, older Canadians. We take a collaborative and participatory approach to research. We aim to contribute to building a strong evidence base to support a new culture of person-centred, functioning-focused care that adds "health to years" for current and future generations of older Canadians.