Urban First Nations and Inuit older adults are aging in a Western-centric sociopolitical environment that is experiencing significant social change due to population aging and urbanization. Consequently, urban communities are facing increasing pressures to respond to the needs of the growing older adult population. As a result of these pressures, older adults are urged to “age well” to reduce their “burden” on society; however, older adults do not all define aging well in the same way and they do not all have the same opportunities to age well. Through my research, I aimed to address a gap in the academic literature concerning urban-dwelling First Nations and Inuit older adults and aging well. Ultimately, my goal was to identify how First Nations and Inuit older adults living in Ottawa could be supported to age well in ways that reflect their urban Indigenous identities, cultural perspectives, and life course. My specific research questions are four-fold: 1) Are Indigenous older adults marginalized through dominant aging well frameworks?; 2) how do community-dwelling First Nations and Inuit older adults (aged 55 years and over) living in Ottawa, Canada, define and negotiate aging well in an urban environment?; 3) what community-level factors contribute to First Nations and Inuit older adults (aged 55 years and over) feeling supported to age well in the city of Ottawa?; and 4) how do community stakeholders in Ottawa produce understandings of supporting urban Indigenous older adults to age well? Informed by a postcolonial theoretical framework, I conducted this research using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) methodology in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in partnerships with the Odawa Native Friendship Centre and Tungasuvvingat Inuit. To address my research questions, I conducted semi-structured interviews with nine First Nations older adults, focus groups with 23 Inuit older adults, and photovoice with two First Nations older adults. Additionally, I conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with community stakeholders (i.e., decision-makers and service providers. My doctoral research makes novel contributions to the fields of kinesiology and gerontology by expanding postcolonial theory to issues related to aging research with urban Indigenous older adults; contributing to the emerging literature that brings diverse perspectives into conversations on aging well; challenging assumptions related to urban Indigenous populations and aging well; illustrating the tensions within aging well initiatives that intended to be available for all older adults; and revealing the tensions within efforts to address reconciliation with Indigenous older adults.

ABSTRACT This qualitative research study investigated active, older, but youthful, women and their participation in a community exercise program, FitDance. This dance-fitness fitness program began in 1991, in cooperation with the New Jersey Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Community Alliance, with a goal of lowering alcoholism and addiction in senior adults. FitDance has been shown to actively contribute to members’ and their families’ health and well-being by providing effective aerobic dance-exercise training, enjoyment, and community. FitDance was found to improve mental and physical health. FitDance framed older adulthood as a time of potential, wisdom, and growth, (Ranzijn, 2002) beyond decrements. FitDance study participants demonstrated high program adherence levels, with some members training for over 15 years, and two, for over 20 years. This study investigated the value of the FitDance program qualities, including PEEPS: Positive, Enjoyable, Exercise Practice Strengths, and what made participants stay active, engaged, and satisfied with this appreciative group exercise program over time (Cooperrider & Fry, 2013). This study revealed how FitDance has had a positive impact on participants, families, communities, and society. This research considered how this program’s attributes, including priming flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), can be generalized to allow other groups, across domains, to achieve similar positive social-emotional results. This study’s threefold purposes were, first, to present eight active, vibrant, functionally fit, women, ages 71-81, who FitDance, and who are positive role models of motivation, program adherence (training twice weekly from between 5-19 years), and self- determination (Deci & Ryan, 2002). The second purpose was to look at the FitDance model, and how it uplifted mental and physical wellness. The mental health benefits were an important factor emphasized by both participants and their children; efforts to sustain and preserve cognitive and mental health were highly valued. The third purpose examined how FitDance has built a positive community through a social fitness model. The social fitness aspect, combining an enjoyable atmosphere in a professional setting, was deemed an important contributor to motivation and adherence. Participants unanimously revealed that the FitDance program was a place where people felt welcomed, positively engaged, challenged, sincerely praised, and connected to fellow participants. Adult children who were surveyed about their mother’s activity, fitness level, and experience in FitDance substantiated their mother’s general vibrancy and her program satisfaction. The stated goals of the FitDance program were to promote vibrant aging, social connections, and well-being by increasing motivation and adherence in community exercise. These goals were realized. Community group dance-exercise programming has the potential to move masses of people toward health and thriving; this is especially important in gerontological terms, impacting fiscal, and especially quality of life measures. Similar to Aristotle’s investigation of virtue, and views about living the good life (Aristotle/Sachs, 2002), PEEPS: positive enjoyable, exercise practices harnessing strengths, matter. With PEEPS, FitDance offers health and healing against the epidemic of inactivity (Blair, 2009, Sallis, 2009), the age wave (Dychtwald & Flower, 1989), and builds uplifting face-to-face, social capital in a digital world (Putnam, 2000). / Kinesiology

L’objectif de ce travail est de mieux saisir le concept de qualité de vie quand il est associé aux personnes âgées, afin de proposer un modèle et un outil d’évaluation facilement administrable. Si la qualité de vie est un concept clé dans la mise en œuvre et l’évaluation des solutions à destination des personnes âgées, les modèles et outils actuels permettant son évaluation n’intègrent pas les spécificités des modes de vie de cette population. Par ailleurs, il existe un manque de consensus quant aux dimensions à prendre en compte pour évaluer la qualité de vie des personnes âgées, et par extension, sa dimension environnementale, facteur pourtant majeur pour les individus âgés, est largement oubliée dans la littérature.Une première étape a mis en évidence la manière dont les séniors et les professionnels intervenant au domicile se représentent le vieillissement et l’habitat idéal pour personnes âgées. Ancrée dans l’approche structurale des représentations sociales, cette étape a permis de dégager des indicateurs issus du sens commun révélateurs de ce que devrait être l’habitat dans son caractère idéal et normatif, associé à la façon de penser le vieillissement. Une seconde étape a permis de proposer un modèle de qualité de vie spécifique aux personnes âgées, s’appuyant tant sur des éléments empiriques que théoriques et donnant une place significative à la dimension environnementale. Ce modèle a donné lieu à la construction et à la validation d’une échelle de mesure de la qualité de vie des individus de plus de soixante-cinq ans, vivant à domicile ou en logement institutionnel. Les analyses factorielles exploratoires et confirmatoires ont permis de mettre en avant une structure latente à quatre facteurs. La première dimension décrit l’environnement physique de l’individu, appréhendée à travers des critères objectifs et subjectifs. La seconde dimension renvoie au réseau social réel et perçu de l’individu ainsi qu’à son état émotionnel. La troisième dimension relève de l’autonomie, en évaluant les capacités fonctionnelles et décisionnelles du répondant, ainsi que le rôle social et le type d’habitat qui en découlent. Enfin, la quatrième dimension renvoie aux pathologies physiques rencontrées par le répondant et à ses conséquences sur la vie quotidienne. La validation statistique de l’échelle auprès d’un panel de 456 répondants a permis de valider ces quatre composantes et de mettre en avant de bonnes qualités psychométriques de l’instrument de mesure. Sa bonne acceptation par la population âgée et sa rapidité de passation en fait un outil facilement utilisable sur le terrain. / The aim of our research is to better understand the concept of quality of life among senior citizens, in order to propose a model and an easy-to-use measurement scale. Although quality of life is a central issue in finding and evaluating solutions for the elderly, current models and tools used to evaluate it omit the specificities of their lifestyles. Furthermore, the dimensions to be considered to evaluate senior citizens’ quality of life are not consensual, and by extension, environmental factors, which are central for the elderly, are largely forgotten in the literature.First, we explored how senior citizens and professionals intervening at their homes perceive aging and the ideal habitat for the elderly. Drawing on the structural approach to social representations, this first phase provided indicators based in common sense that revealed what a home should be in ideal and normative terms, which we associated with social thinking about aging. Next, we proposed a quality of life model specifically designed for the elderly, which is both empirically and theoretically based and places significant importance on environmental factors. This model led to the development and validation of a measurement scale intended for individuals over 65 years of age who live either at home or in an institution. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a latent structure composed of four factors. The first describes the individual’s physical environment using objective and subjective criteria. The second factor refers to the individual’s real and perceived social network as well as his/her emotional state. The third factor deals with autonomy by evaluating participants’ functional and decisional skills in relation to their social role and type of home. Last, the fourth factor deals with physical problems the respondent may encounter and their consequences on everyday life. These four factors and the psychometric quality of the scale were statistically validated with a sample of 456 senior citizens. It was well received by the elderly and was fast to administer, making it an easy-to-use scale.

Enjeu important pour le marketing des seniors, le concept de bien vieillir demeure peu investigué par la recherche en marketing. Nous introduisons un nouveau concept, le Bien Vieillir Désiré (BVD), qui fait référence aux objectifs psychologiques, physiques, sociaux et financiers, poursuivis dans la quête du bien vieillir. Nous en proposons un modèle de mesure bifactoriel, fiable et valide, en quatre dimensions : le BVD général, le BVD physique, le BVD social et le BVD financier. Son influence est testée sur huit comportements de consommation relatifs aux secteurs suivants : alimentation, e-santé, chirurgie esthétique, loisirs, placements financiers, réseaux sociaux et sites de rencontres. L’échelle de mesure et un modèle global antécédents-manifestations-effets sont validés à partir d’un échantillon de 900 seniors âgés de 50 à 80 ans. Les résultats suggèrent le développement d’une nouvelle approche marketing des seniors : le marketing du bien vieillir. Son investigation et sa mise en œuvre sont ancrées dans quatre concepts clés : le BVD, le vieillissement perçu, les attentes d’ajustement au vieillissement et la consommation du bien vieillir. / Aging well is now a key stake for senior marketing, yet this concept remains little investigated by consumer research. A new concept is introduced in marketing research: Desired Aging Well (DAW), which refers to the psychological, physical, social and financial objectives, pursued in the quest for aging well. This research provides a reliable and valid bifactor measurement model for Desired Aging Well, in four dimensions: general DAW, physical DAW, social DAW and financial DAW. Its influence is tested on eight consumer behaviors related to the following sectors: food, e-health, plastic surgery, leisure, financial investments, social networks and dating sites. The Desired Aging Well scale and the overall antecedents-manifestations-effects model are validated on a sample of 900 French senior people aged from 50 to 80. The results suggest the development of a new marketing approach for seniors: aging well marketing. Its investigation and implementation are rooted in four key concepts: Desired Aging Well, perceived aging, adjustment to aging expectations and aging well consumption.

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