Ageing Well

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Ageing Well National Science Challenge
Established2015
TypeResearch programme
Location
  • New Zealand
Director
David Baxter
Budget
$34.9 m NZD
FundingMBIE
Websitewww.ageingwellchallenge.co.nz

Ageing Well (Māori: Kia eke kairangi ki te taikaumātuatanga) is one of New Zealand's eleven collaborative research programmes known as National Science Challenges. Running from 2015 to 2024, the focus of Ageing Well National Science Challenge (AWNSC) research is sustaining health and wellbeing towards the end of life, particularly in Māori and Pacific populations in New Zealand.

Establishment and governance[edit]

The New Zealand Government agreed in August 2012 to fund National Science Challenges: large multi-year collaborative research programmes that would address important issues in New Zealand's future. The funding criteria were set out in January 2014, with proposals assessed by a Science Board within the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE).[1]

Official launch of Ageing Well in 2015; Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce centre, David Baxter far right

After a planning phase in 2014, MBIE approved the University of Otago was approved as a host for the project. AWNSC was launched on 4 March 2015 by Minister for Science and Innovation Steven Joyce, one of three health-based National Science Challenges.[2]: 8–9  The Māori name of Ageing Well is Kia eke (to strive for) kairangi (something esteemed) ki te taikaumātuatanga (of being elderly).[3]

Ageing Well's governance and science leadership teams as well as a Kāhui Rōpū (Māori advisory group) and international science advisory panel were all established in 2016. Di McCarthy was appointed chair of the science challenge, a position she held until 2020.

David Baxter was appointed initial Director of AWNSC. Deputy Director Debra Waters became Director of AWNSC in 2019, and left in 2020.[4] Louise Parr-Brownlie, who joined Ageing Well as Deputy Director in 2018, became Director in 2020, with David Baxter as co-Director.[5] After Parr-Brownlie left for an advisory job in MBIE in 2023, Baxter was appointed as Director for a second time, to lead the Challenge through its final year.[6]

Vision Mātauranga is a New Zealand government policy to foster collaboration with Māori and the science community. All National Science Challenges were set up with separate Governance and Māori Advisory groups, but in 2017 the Kāhui and Governance groups for AWNSC were merged into a single body, a novel approach at the time which aligned with Vision Mātauranga and gave Kāhui Māori members an equal say in decisionmaking. As part of a restructure at the five-year mark to appoint more Māori to leadership roles, Louise Parr-Brownlie became Director, and Will Edwards was appointed Deputy Chair of the new Governance Group, becoming Chair in 2020.[2]: 14–15 [7]: 16  In that same year $3.25m was allocated to co-designed projects that focussed particularly on Māori and Pasifika ageing.[2]: 16–17  Half of the second five years of funding was allocated to Māōri-led, mostly community-driven research projects.[7]: 17 

Strategic Advisory Group and other staff in 2019. Left to right: Nancy Longnecker, Len Cook, Sarah Clark, Elana Curtis, Andrew Sporle, Stephen Neville, Mary Simpson, David Baxter, Ngaire Kerse, Moana Theodore, Debra Waters

As part of a review of all National Science Challenges in 2018, the then-Minister for Science and Innovation Megan Woods announced an additional $20.3m of funding to Ageing Well for research until 2024.[2]: 8–9 

AWNSC is hosted by the University of Otago, with other research partners around New Zealand including AgResearch, Auckland University of Technology, the Centre for Research, Evaluation, and Social Assessment (CRESA), Massey University, the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury, the University of Waikato and Victoria University of Wellington.[8] It has worked with researchers in the National Science Challenges Healthier Lives and A Better Start, and the three Challenges collaborated in the conference He Ora te Whakapiri at Te Papa in October 2018.[9] AWNSC has also collaborated with Brain Research New Zealand on three co-funded research projects.[10]

The final symposium for AWNSC, the culmination of the ten-year research programme, was held at Te Papa on 10–11 April 2024. Former head of the New Zealand Productivity Commission Ganesh Nana was the keynote speaker, and lead speakers included Louise Parr-Brownlie, Sarah Clark, Ofa Dewes, Joanna Hikaka, and Ngaire Kerse.[11]

Research[edit]

Governance Group meeting, August 2023; left to right are Andrew Lonie, David Baxter, Sarah Benwell, Adrienne von Tunzelmann, Will Edwards, Louise Parr-Brownlie, David Schaaf, and Helen Nicholson

The focus of Ageing Well is ageing-related issues in Aotearoa New Zealand; its official objective is "to harness science to sustain health and wellbeing into the later years of life."[12]: 10  Some of the problems of ageing it was set up to address include inadequate housing, frailty, deteriorating brain health, poverty, ageism, and social isolation.[2]: 96–97  In its initial years, AWNSC funded 18 research projects on a wide range of issues related to ageing, but after 2018 the focus of research narrowed into two main areas: health and wellbeing in ageing (particularly social connections and maintaining an active life); and ageing and Māori (who as an ethnic group are disproportionately disadvantaged as they age).[2]: 96–97 

Health[edit]

Ageing Well's first research publication was in 2016, by Valery Feigin, Rita Krishnamurthi, and their team at AUT's National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences (NISAN). They examined the global burden and risk factors of strokes over 1990–2013, and concluded that over 90% of strokes were attributable to modifiable risk factors, and three quarters of strokes could be avoided by controlling behavioural and metabolic risk factors.[13] They also determined that air pollution was a significant contributor to strokes, especially in low- to middle-income countries. Feigin and Krishnamurthi's team later developed digital tools for helping prevent strokes: a free mobile app, Stroke Riskometer, to measure risk; and a desktop tool for doctors, PreventS-MD. Their decades of epidemiological work in stroke risk and prevention led to them receiving the Prime Minister's Science Prize in 2023.[14]

A team led by Hamish Jamieson examined the Drug Burden Index, a tool used by health professionals to predict medication side effects. They found it could also be used to predict falls and fractures: older people taking three or more high-scoring DBI medications were nearly twice as likely to fall and break their hip.[15]

Māori and Pasifika[edit]

One research area of Ageing Well has been ageing in New Zealand Pacific peoples (Pasifika). Pasifika are the only New Zealand ethnic group whose mortality has stagnated rather than improved in recent years, due to the cost of medical care and cultural and language barriers.[2]: 80–83  A two year study by El-Shadan (Dan) Tautolo of Samoan, Tongan, and Cook Island Pasifika grandparents, co-designed by the participants, found that a strong cultural identity was a predictor of good health. The participants identified podiatry as a focus, as older Pasifika have a higher risk of foot and lower-limb issues, and Tautolo argued for adding podiatry checks into outpatient community health assessments.[16] Research led by Pauline Norris examined cognitive decline in aged Pasifika, and found that there were significant problems in getting a diagnosis, accessing support services, and overcoming language barriers.[17]

External videos
video icon I'll Care For You (Music video on Pasifika end-of-life care)
video icon Elder Birdsong (Short animated film on growing old in NZ)

Ofa Dewes was the principal researcher for a study on end-of-life in Pasifika, who have poor access to palliative care. Her study participants overwhelmingly wished to die at home surrounded by aiga (family), but there was insufficient support for aiga carers. At the suggestion of her study participants a music video, I'll Care For You, was created to spread the study's findings in the community. Her findings informed strategic plans developed by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Development.[2]: 68–71 A subsequent study looked at the needs of younger Pasifika caring for older relatives, and social support though setting up a network, which was incorporated into the Ministry for Social Development Carers’ Strategy Action Plan 2019–2023.[18][19]

In October 2022, Dewes and the Tongan Health Society established the Langimalie Research Centre, which began a research programme on brain health support services and the different cultural approaches needed in diverse ethnic communities: initially Tongan, Tokolauan, and Tuvaluan communities in Auckland and Wellington.[7]: 19, 36–37 

Māori in general show more positive attitudes towards ageing than non-Māori, but have poorer health statistics. A study by Marama Muru-Lanning examined this discrepency by working with kaumātua (older Māori), examining both the role they play in the community, their outlook, and their approach to health. Māori in the study viewed health in a holistic framework, incorporating mental, physical, and spiritual health anf the state of their environment.[20]

Social isolation[edit]

Sally Keeling and Hamish Jamieson of the University of Otago, Christchurch, studied loneliness and social isolation in older New Zealanders, analysing 72,000 aged-care admissions recorded in the InterRAI database. Over one in five older adults reported feeling lonely; the numbers were highest amongst older Asians (23%) but relatively low in Pasifika (17%), and loneliness increased with social deprivation.[21] They also found social factors such as living alone, loneliness, and having stressed carers significantly increased the chance of being admitted to aged care, much more so than medical conditions like incontinence. Social Isolation and loneliness also increased the chance of depression, social anxiety, and chronic pain.[2]: 76–79  Merryn Gott collaborated with Age Concern, an NGO that works with the isolated elderly, to interview older people on their loneliness and social connection, and found embarassment about their isolation and a desire not to be a burden were common factors; some planned not to hold funerals as they felt nobody would attend.[22] Age Concern's Accredited Visiting Service was found to be an effective counter to this loneliness and isolation.[23][24] The interviews were used to make an animated short film, which was shortlisted in the WHO's 2019 Health For All Film Festival.[22]

Frailty[edit]

Several Ageing Well research projects have studied the health of residents in retirement villages, analysing the national interRAI database of all residents. An initial study of 33 retirement villages led by Martin Connolly revealed around 50% of residents had cardiorespiratory symptoms and chronic pain needs that were not being addressed.[25] Katherine Bloomfield, one of Connolly's team, followed up with research on frailty in retirement village residents, developing a new frailty index for health professionals to use to identify high-risk patients; this was later adopted by the NZ Health Quality and Safety Commission.[26] Twenty per cent of the residents in their study turned out to be moderately to severely frail, which was strongly associated with continuing health problems: 79% of that group subsequently had an unplanned hospitalisation.[27][28] Michal Boyd's research team, who had studied dementia and palliative care in residential facilities, developed a Deterioration Early Warning System (DEWS) from interRAI data to potentially be implemented in aged care facilities throughout New Zealand.[29][30]

To complement the idea of physical frailty, Ruth Teh's research team proposed a measure of social frailty—the risk of losing social connections and not fulfilling basic social needs.[31] Teh had previously studied the effectiveness of two programmes for seniors that promoted strength and balance and improved cooking skills, finding they were not only stalling physical fraily but building social connection.[32] These programmes had low participation rates by Māori however, so a subsequent study trialled a co-designed gardening initiative with older Māori to promote exercise and social connection.[33]

Symposia[edit]

  • Aged Care and Housing: evidence-based solutions for Aotearoa (2022). Hybrid event focussed on housing and residential aged care.[34] Symposium report (PDF).

Publications[edit]

  • Ageing Well (2021). Celebrating Ageing Well: The first five years of the Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Dunedin: University of Otago. ISBN 978-0-473-57902-9. Wikidata Q124444554.
  • Healthier Lives; Ageing Well; A Better Start (September 2023), Evidence for Health and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, Dunedin: University of Otago, Wikidata Q124618162
  • Ageing Well (2024). Ka Mua Ka Muri: A decade of ageing well in Aotearoa and beyond. Dunedin: University of Otago. ISBN 978-0-473-71126-9. Wikidata Q125684589.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Criteria for Proposals for National Science Challenges funding - 2014-go548". New Zealand Gazette. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ageing Well (2021). Celebrating Ageing Well: The first five years of the Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Dunedin: University of Otago. ISBN 978-0-473-57902-9. Wikidata Q124444554.
  3. ^ MBIE. "Ageing Well | Kia eke kairangi ki te taikaumātuatanga". National Science Challenges. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  4. ^ "New heads to lead Ageing Well National Science Challenge". Otago Bulletin. University of Otago. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  5. ^ Richardson, Rebecca (7 August 2023). "Challenge says haere rā to Director". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  6. ^ Richardson, Rebecca (5 October 2023). "Co-Director steps up into lead role". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Ageing Well (2024). Ka Mua Ka Muri: A decade of ageing well in Aotearoa and beyond. Dunedin: University of Otago. ISBN 978-0-473-71126-9. Wikidata Q125684589.
  8. ^ "Our Collaborators". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Major life course research conference opens at Te Papa". A Better Start National Science Challenge. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  10. ^ Alexander, Dean (28 January 2019). "Ageing Well & Brain Research New Zealand announce co-funding". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  11. ^ Richardson, Rebecca (22 April 2024). "Ageing Well Symposium "far exceeded expectations"". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  12. ^ Ageing Well (2021). Celebrating Ageing Well: The first five years of the Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Dunedin: University of Otago. ISBN 978-0-473-57902-9. Wikidata Q124444554.
  13. ^ Valery L Feigin; Gregory A Roth; Mohsen Naghavi; et al. (9 June 2016). "Global burden of stroke and risk factors in 188 countries, during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013". Lancet Neurology. 15 (9): 913–924. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(16)30073-4. ISSN 1474-4422. PMID 27291521. Wikidata Q39690277.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Morton, Jamie (1 May 2023). "Son's grief prompted ground-breaking stroke research". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  15. ^ Jamieson, Hamish A; Nishtala, Prasad S; Scrase, Richard; Deely, Joanne M; Abey-Nesbit, Rebecca; Hilmer, Sarah N; Abernethy, Darrell R; Berry, Sarah D; Mor, Vincent; Lacey, Cameron J; Schluter, Philip J (18 June 2019). "Drug Burden Index and Its Association With Hip Fracture Among Older Adults: A National Population-Based Study". The Journals of Gerontology: Series A. 74 (7): 1127–1133. doi:10.1093/gerona/gly176. ISSN 1079-5006. PMID 30084928.
  16. ^ Tautolo, El-Shadan; Wrapson, Wendy; Paterson, Janis; Clair, Valerie Wright-St; Neville, Stephen; Dewes, Ofa; Iusitini, Leon (3 April 2017). "Healthy Pacific grandparents: a participatory action research project exploring ageing well among Pacific people in New Zealand". Self & Society. 45 (2): 134–148. doi:10.1080/03060497.2017.1334973. hdl:10292/10663. ISSN 0306-0497.
  17. ^ Symon, Vanda; Richards, Rosalina; Norris, Pauline; Mapusua, Talai; Hale, Leigh (23 December 2021). "The needs of Pacific families affected by age-related cognitive impairment in New Zealand: interviews with providers from health-care organisations". Journal of Primary Health Care. 13 (4): 317–322. doi:10.1071/HC21082. ISSN 1172-6156. PMID 34937644.
  18. ^ Ageing Well. "Building connections as we age". Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  19. ^ Netzler, Natalie (31 August 2021). "What we should be doing for Māori and Pacific peoples". Newsroom. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  20. ^ Symon, Vanda; Richards, Rosalina; Norris, Pauline; Mapusua, Talai; Hale, Leigh (23 December 2021). "The needs of Pacific families affected by age-related cognitive impairment in New Zealand: interviews with providers from health-care organisations". Journal of Primary Health Care. 13 (4): 317–322. doi:10.1071/HC21082. ISSN 1172-6156. PMID 34937644.
  21. ^ Jamieson, Hamish; Abey-Nesbit, Rebecca; Bergler, Ulrich; Keeling, Sally; Schluter, Philip J.; Scrase, Richard; Lacey, Cameron (2019). "Evaluating the Influence of Social Factors on Aged Residential Care Admission in a National Home Care Assessment Database of Older Adults". Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 20 (11): 1419–1424. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2019.02.005. PMID 30926408.
  22. ^ a b "Social Isolation". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  23. ^ Wiles, Janine; Morgan, Tessa; Moeke-Maxwell, Tess; Black, Stella; Park, Hong-Jae; Dewes, Ofa; Williams, Lisa Ann; Gott, Merryn (3 October 2019). "Befriending Services for Culturally Diverse Older People". Journal of Gerontological Social Work. 62 (7): 776–793. doi:10.1080/01634372.2019.1640333. ISSN 0163-4372. PMID 31296128.
  24. ^ Morgan, Tessa; Wiles, Janine; Moeke-Maxwell, Tess; Black, Stella; Park, Hong-Jae; Dewes, Ofa; Williams, Lisa Ann; Gott, Merryn (2 October 2020). "'People haven't got that close connection': meanings of loneliness and social isolation to culturally diverse older people". Aging & Mental Health. 24 (10): 1627–1635. doi:10.1080/13607863.2019.1633619. ISSN 1360-7863. PMID 31256631.
  25. ^ Broad, Joanna B; Wu, Zhenqiang; Bloomfield, Katherine; Hikaka, Joanna; Bramley, Dale; Boyd, Michal; Tatton, Annie; Calvert, Cheryl; Peri, Kathy; Higgins, Ann-Marie; Connolly, Martin J (2020). "Health profile of residents of retirement villages in Auckland, New Zealand: findings from a cross-sectional survey with health assessment". BMJ Open. 10 (9): e035876. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035876. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 7511621. PMID 32948550.
  26. ^ Te Tāhū Hauora (19 September 2019). "New frailty guides to empower nurses and reduce variation for patients". Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  27. ^ Bloomfield, Katherine; Wu, Zhenqiang; Broad, Joanna B.; Tatton, Annie; Calvert, Cheryl; Hikaka, Joanna; Boyd, Michal; Peri, Kathy; Bramley, Dale; Higgins, Ann-Marie; Connolly, Martin J. (2022). "Factors associated with healthcare utilization and trajectories in retirement village residents". Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 70 (3): 754–765. doi:10.1111/jgs.17602. ISSN 0002-8614. PMID 34910296.
  28. ^ Bloomfield, Katherine; Wu, Zhenqiang; Tatton, Annie; Calvert, Cheryl; Peel, Nancye; Hubbard, Ruth; Jamieson, Hamish; Hikaka, Joanna; Boyd, Michal; Bramley, Dale; Connolly, Martin J. (2 March 2022). "An interRAI derived frailty index predicts acute hospitalizations in older adults residing in retirement villages: A prospective cohort study". PLOS ONE. 17 (3): e0264715. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1764715B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0264715. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 8890727. PMID 35235598.
  29. ^ Daltrey, Julie F.; Boyd, Michal L.; Burholt, Vanessa; Robinson, Jacqualine A. (2022). "Detecting Acute Deterioration in Older Adults Living in Residential Aged Care: A Scoping Review". Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 23 (9): 1517–1540. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2022.05.018. hdl:2292/60793. PMID 35738427.
  30. ^ Ageing Well. "Recognising deterioration in residential aged care". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  31. ^ "Exploring social frailty". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  32. ^ Teh, Ruth; Barnett, Daniel; Edlin, Richard; Kerse, Ngaire; Waters, Debra L; Hale, Leigh; Tay, Esther; Leilua, Evelingi; Pillai, Avinesh (2022). "Effectiveness of a complex intervention of group-based nutrition and physical activity to prevent frailty in pre-frail older adults (SUPER): a randomised controlled trial". The Lancet Healthy Longevity. 3 (8): e519–e530. doi:10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00124-6. PMID 36102762.
  33. ^ "Towards Optimising Vitality in Older Adults". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  34. ^ Richardson, Rebecca (17 October 2022). "2022 Symposium Wrap Up". Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Retrieved 26 March 2024.

External links[edit]

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