COPE-Engage
Research Methods: Focus groups will be conducted with older adults in multi-unit housing and interviews with staff from health authorities, municipal governments, community services.
Focus Areas: The project investigates awareness, usage, barriers, and facilitators related to heat-related services and programs for older adults.
Co-Creation Workshops: Action plans will be developed collaboratively with community partners and older adults to improve heat management strategies.
Knowledge Mobilization: Findings will be shared through tools such as videos, photo boards, social media, blog posts, community forums, and academic platforms.
The goal of COPE-Engage project is to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based programs, policies and strategies that have been developed to support older adults during extreme heat events, highlighting successes and identifying areas for improvement. To assess the level of awareness about and use of community-based supports and resources by older adults during extreme heat events, focus groups interviews will be conducted with older adults living in multi-unit housing. Additionally, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with staff members from health authorities, municipal government, community-based service sector, as well as housing providers to understand the efficacy of existing strategies, services and programs.
During these interviews and focus group sessions, inquiry will be made on best practices in coping and managing extreme heat events, including the barriers and facilitators influencing use and development of services and programs. After the data collection and analysis phase, the project team will focus on developing action plans through co-creation workshops with community partners including older adults. One of the main goals of these co-creation workshops is to foster collaboration between older adults and community partners to develop effective heat management strategies that involve coordination between community organizations and public services.
Additionally, knowledge mobilization tools such as videos and photo boards will be developed to facilitate dissemination of project findings through social media postings, blog posts, community forums, academic presentations and publications.