2023-24 HOPE summer student
These scholarships are awarded to support high achieving University students to do an ageing focused research project over the 10-week summer break. The aim is not only to achieve high quality worthwhile research, but also to enable these students to gain valuable skills, by working with experienced researchers, who supervise these projects. This year we have awarded one Summer Scholarship.
Rosa Griffiths - University of Auckland
Supervisor: Dr Katherine Bloomfield
How satisfied are frail older adults with living in retirement villages?
Older adults enter retirement villages for a multitude of reasons. Some choose retirement villages for a social and secure environment, while others move into retirement villages in response to increasing health needs.
The team I have been lucky to join has already published valuable research surrounding older adults in retirement villages. This research shows many people in retirement villages are experiencing frailty: a state of increased vulnerability to stressors and adverse health outcomes. A frailty index has also been developed to measure frailty in an objective way.
My summer project uses the data collected for a wider study: Older People in Retirement Villages. I will compare the satisfaction levels of different aspects of retirement village living between frail and non-frail older adults.
As a third-year medical student, I am passionate about this research and older adult health. My grandparents and their health struggles have inspired me to pursue medicine.
I would like to thank the HOPE Foundation for this amazing opportunity and extend my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr. Katherine Bloomfield, Dr. Zhenqiang Wu and everyone involved in the Retirement Villages study.
Rosa's findings are reported here and here.
References for Older People in Retirement Villages
Bloomfield, K., Wu, Z., Tatton, A., Calvert, C., Peel, N., Hubbard, R., Jamieson, H., Hikaka, J., Boyd, M., Bramley, D., & Connolly, M. J. (2021). An interRAI‐derived frailty index is associated with prior hospitalisations in older adults residing in retirement villages. Australasian Journal on Ageing, 40(1), 66–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12863
Peri, K., Broad, J. B., Hikaka, J., Boyd, M., Bloomfield, K., Wu, Z., Calvert, C., Tatton, A., Higgins, A. M., Bramley, D., & Connolly, M. J. (2020). Study protocol: Older people in retirement villages. A survey and randomised trial of a multi-disciplinary invention designed to avoid adverse outcomes. BMC Geriatrics, 20(1), 247–247. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-01640-6
You can also help by
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- Donating your time to the Friends Supporters to help with fundraising and committee work
- Encouraging your children and grandchildren to invest in their futures by donating time and money (a baby girl born today has a 1 in 3 chance of living to 100 , a boy 1 in 4 and is likely to be fitter and healthier–think about the implications of that)
- Consider a bequest