#86
Aging in Urban and Rural New Brunswick: Understanding Lived Experiences Using Participatory Action Research
Kristen Byrne1
1University of New Brunswick, Saint John.
This research project investigates disparities in access to resources and services such as transportation, grocery stores, and health and social services for aging populations living in Greater Saint John’s urban and rural areas. This presentation describes an ongoing doctoral research project that utilizes action research as a methodological framework for working with older adults. Action research values community collaboration to mobilize local knowledge and ensure lived realities inform the research process. This process seeks to empower communities to advocate for meaningful change. The methodological process is discussed by describing the initial phase of developing research questions through previous work, engagement with local communities and non-government organizations (NGOs), and a literature review of current research on service access for aging populations in Atlantic Canada. The second phase, data collection, used semi-structured interviews to conduct in-depth interviews with older adults and local NGOs working with aging populations. Semi-structured interviews allow the researcher to thoroughly explore key issues and challenges identified by the participants. This presentation highlights the preliminary findings of these interviews. Subsequently, the next steps of the research process are discussed. The following steps include conducting an art workshop as a focus group to facilitate discussions around the findings and interpretation of the interview data and developing a strategy for action. Finally, the critical reflexive process to question the researcher’s positionality, privilege, biases, and power imbalances in the methodological process is acknowledged.