Families & Aging
Research to support intergenerational families providing care with and for older adults.
Families & Aging is a research program led by Dr. Heather Campbell-Enns, an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Families and Aging (Tier 2) at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg, Canada.
The program aims to support meaningful, equitable, and sustainable family care by exploring intergenerational care practices, with a particular focus on care for and with older adults living with dementia.
From Stories to Support
This program of research began with a series of exploratory qualitative studies identifying the experiences and needs of family members, particularly adult children providing care.
Study results inform theory building around family care processes, including internal family dynamics and the challenges that arise when family care intersects with health systems.
As the program develops, this research aims to translate its findings into practical, real-world supports for families.
Research Approach
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A Family-Based Approach
Drawing on family systems theory, this research treats the family as the unit of analysis — recognizing that family members are deeply interconnected in their caregiving experiences. The group surrounding a person living with dementia remains the lens, even when individual family members contribute to research.
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Meaningful Engagement
Researchers partner with communities to identify and answer questions that reflect their family care priorities. Knowledge is co-created with the people closest to the experience, ensuring that research is both rigorous and grounded in lived experience.
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Equity & Empowerment
This research prioritizes the inclusion of underrepresented individuals and communities, and works to empower families for caregiving in ways that meet their needs. Research is relational, with community members as partners in the research.
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Research Impact
Research findings are shared with families, communities, service providers, and policy makers — with the aim of improving practice and supporting family carers in equitable and sustainable ways.
Funding
The home for this program of research is at Canadian Mennonite University and it is funded by the Canada Research Chair Program, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and Research Manitoba.
Land Acknowledgement
This research is conducted on territory stewarded for generations by the Anishinaabe, Cree, Dakota, and Métis people. The CMU campus sits on Treaty 1 lands, where we access clean drinking water from Shoal Lake 39 and 40 in Treaty 3 territory and use hydro power generated on Treaty 5 territory. We benefit from these Treaty relationships every day and are committed to living purposefully as we work towards reconciliation and build meaningful, lasting relationships with Indigenous people and with all of God’s creation.