Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) 2025
Zhu, H., Mahmood, A., Wei, C., & Pauly, T. (2025, October 25). A Comprehensive Approach to Enhance Older Adults’ Preparedness for Extreme Heat: COPE-Engage [Oral presentation]. Canadian Association on Gerontology Annual Conference, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Letitia Zhu, PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Atiya Mahmood presented part of the COPE-Engage project at CAG, highlighting preliminary findings from both focus groups and expert interviews, and the common themes emerging between them. The presentation also identified several gaps between what services currently offer and what older adults experience day to day. That’s really where the future direction of COPE lies: bridging that disconnect so preparedness strategies better reflect people’s lived realities.
Title
A Comprehensive Approach to Enhance Older Adults’ Preparedness for Extreme Heat: COPE -Engage
Abstract
Climate change has led to more extreme heat days, with older adults being disproportionately affected due to physiological vulnerabilities and systemic barriers. We conduct focus groups with older adults and semi-structured interviews with community experts (e.g., healthcare and housing providers, city planners, community service providers, etc.) to identify barriers and facilitators in existing heat response strategies. Focus groups aim to offer insights into lived experiences, to understand how older adults interpret and respond to heat-related issues as they manage extreme heat and use community services. Questions cover topics such as awareness, preparedness, vulnerability, socioeconomic influence, thermal comfort, and heat relief. Community experts are asked about access and quality of community facilities, services, and programs to mitigate and manage extreme heat. Focus groups and interviews will be conducted throughout summer 2025 and preliminary findings will be available by the conference. Data will be transcribed and analyzed to provide an overview on the complexity of service and program delivery during extreme heat events. We anticipate that older adults who are supported through specific community-based organizations during heat events have better awareness of risks. Transportation will also play a key role in utilization of these services, with lack of adequately designed transit stops as a barrier. We expect community organizations to highlight the need for multi-sectoral collaboration. Both groups will be asked about the need for more effective communication and awareness campaigns surrounding the risks factors of extreme heat events. Our multi-year approach will include co-creation workshops to refine intervention strategies.
Presenter
Letitia Zhu, Ph.D. Student, MAP-SWAN project coordinator (She/her)
Letitia holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from Beijing Forestry University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Gerontology at Simon Fraser University under the supervision of Dr.Atiya Mahmood. Her research interests lie at the intersection of art-based methods, community-engaged research approach and technology, to explore how to enhance accessibility, safety and independance for older adults with disabilities. Letitia coordinates multiple projects at the lab.
Presentation
Aging in the Right Place (AIRP)
Team members from our complementary project, AIRP also presented at the CAG conference.
Digital Storytelling
Jean Paul Ramírez Echavarría, M.A. student under the supervision of Dr. Atiya Mahmood, presented part of the Aging in the Right Place (AIRP) project at the 2025 Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG). The presentation explored digital storytelling as a methodological approach to understanding the experiences of older adults with histories of homelessness, highlighting themes of mobility, social connection, supportive housing, and engagement with the built and natural environment. It also emphasized the importance of centering lived experience in research and service design.
Presentation
Social Integration
Nosaiba Fayyaz, PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Atiya Mahmood, and Nushaiba Nanjiba, M.A. student in Counselling Psychology in the Faculty of Education, presented part of the Aging in the Right Place (AIRP) project at the 2025 Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG). Their presentation explored how older adults experiencing housing precarity and homelessness navigate social integration within supportive housing environments, highlighting themes related to solitude and connection, the influence of built and natural environments, meaningful social interactions, and the importance of autonomy and choice in shaping experiences of belonging and community.
Presentation
