Establishing a Healthy Active Aging Knowledge Exchange Pathway

Older adults make up the fastest growing age group in Canada. The first wave of the enormous baby boomer cohort has now reached the age of 65 years and, in two decades, one-in-five citizens will be "older adults". This has demanded increased attention to supporting the health of the aging population (1), in part by disseminating health information for those over the age of 65 years and health practitioners who work with this segment of the population. In particular, there has been an emphasis placed on the role of healthy lifestyle information and aging (2, 3). However, despite the plethora of identified benefits of active living [in particular] to healthy aging (4), older Canadians spend an alarming 69% of their waking time in sedentary activities (5), live with at least one chronic condition, and thus spend less time engaged within their communities (1). There are many barriers that exist in the effective transfer of health information knowledge and application of best practice knowledge to the intended target population; however it is clear that messaging relating to active living, in particular, has fallen short of making a broad impact (5,6). There currently does not exist a formal network to provide an outlet for healthy aging researchers to disseminate their work and reciprocally, for community organizations promoting healthy active living to access and apply evidence-based research findings; the process currently dependent on informal outreach. To facilitate the availability and dissemination of healthy active aging related information we propose to bring together relevant stakeholders and trans-disciplinary knowledge producers to lay the foundation in the establishment of a network and the development of a knowledge exchange strategy/pathway. The present initiative is unique in involving knowledge producers and providing them with direct and appropriate contacts with knowledge users and enabling an ongoing dialogue.