Indigenous Aging

The global number of older persons is projected to more than double over the next 30 years, reaching over 1.5 billion persons by 2050 (United Nations, 2019). Indigenous Peoples are distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy, or from which they have been displaced. Their health and well-being are inextricably linked to their cultures. Worldwide, Indigenous Peoples suffer from poorer health, are more likely to experience disability and reduced quality of life, and die at younger ages than their non-indigenous counterparts (Cooke et al., 2007; United Nations, 2009). The health profile of older Indigenous Persons coupled with their expected increased population size, warrants efforts to better understand the Indigenous aging experience in preparing to meet their growing public health needs and ensure older Indigenous Peoples’ right to equitable positive aging.

This Research Topic would have a broad scope on public health related research with older Indigenous participants. The broad scope is due to the relatively limited amount of research worldwide that focuses on older Indigenous Peoples. Overall, the health profile of Indigenous older adults is generally poorer than same-aged other race and ethnic populations. This is of particular interest given the barriers regarding health promotional opportunities as well as health care access and use. Yet, identifying existing assets within the communities of aging Indigenous Peoples, is also a critical step in being able to meet their health-related needs. Worldwide, there has been an increased interest in examining Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related brain disorders in Indigenous populations, effective treatments, and unique ways of enabling individuals and families to maintain a high quality of life. Other work seeks to examine the cultural uniqueness as it relates to the experiences of chronic disease and aging. Thirdly, research is growing to address health promotion and physical activity opportunities for Indigenous older adults.

Given the intended broad scope for the proposed Research Topic, we would welcome the following themes from contributors: 
• Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related brain disorders;
• Cultural aspects to healthy aging and aging well;
• Intrinsic strengths and their relationships to health and health behaviors;
• Community-engaged research projects addressing priority areas of participating communities;
• Prevalent chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes;
• Frailty: descriptions, predictors, and prevention;
• Health promotion efforts, programs, and issues;
• Experiences with COVID-19 pandemic (mortality, coping, vaccination);
• Mental health, trauma, and resiliency;
• Social connectedness and isolation;
• End-of-life / advance care planning;
• Racial discrimination;
• Access to and quality of formal services;
• Caregiving.

With respect to methodology, we would be interested in quantitative, qualitative, multi-methods, and mixed methods approaches using either primary or secondary data. We also would be interested in systematic reviews. Lastly, we would welcome multidisciplinary perspectives as well as singular disciplinary perspectives.

We encourage authors to keep their abstracts succinct, between 300-500 words.