Strengthening Personal Capacity of Older Adults in Culturally Diverse Context

TL;DR

This symposium explores how cultural diversity, digital access, and lifelong learning affect older adults' well-being in multicultural settings.

Contribution

The studies present new insights into culturally tailored interventions for enhancing personal capacity and resilience in aging populations.

Findings

Culturally congruent and tech-savvy interventions are needed to address challenges faced by older adults.

Digital literacy and community engagement significantly impact mental health and social resilience.

Intergenerational ties and learning opportunities are crucial for empowerment and well-being.

Abstract

The critical interplay of cultural diversity, digital access, lifelong learning, and personal capacity is a key focus, particularly for older adults in multicultural settings. These complex factors across diverse landscapes demand exploration to address challenges and enhance well-being. This symposium presents five studies examining personal capacity, social resilience, mental health, digital inclusion, and community empowerment among aging populations, spotlighting South Asian elders in Hong Kong, racialized immigrants in Canada, older adults in China, vulnerable seniors in Hong Kong’s digital context, and older Chinese immigrants in Canada. These studies underscore the need for culturally congruent, tech-savvy, and education-driven interventions. They highlight challenges in social connectivity, community engagement, mental health, digital literacy, and discrimination, alongside the power of intergenerational ties and learning. Critical elements like cross-cultural understanding, resilience depth, access to community, digital, and educational resources, family dynamics, and unmet care needs significantly shape older adults’ lives. The research strongly supports culturally attuned, digitally inclusive, and learning-focused policies and practices. It emphasizes empowerment, resilience-building, mental health support, digital capacity enhancement, and community advocacy tailored to diverse identities and needs. These findings are vital for crafting targeted interventions, policies, and frameworks to overcome unique barriers faced by ageing individuals in culturally diverse, digitally advancing, and socially evolving contexts worldwide. International Aging and Migration Interest Group Sponsored Symposium