NCOA is the collaborative leader of the Aging Hub of 100 Million Healthier Lives (100MLives), an initiative of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a leading innovator in improving health and health care worldwide.
100MLives is an unprecedented collaboration of change agents across sectors who are working to fundamentally transform the way the world thinks and acts to improve health, well-being, and equity to get to breakthrough results. The initiative includes several Hubs that are focused on unique populations, issues, and systems.
The Aging Hub supports a nationwide ecosystem for measuring, fostering, and bringing to scale innovations that address the social and behavioral determinants of health for older adults in the community. As leader of the Aging Hub, NCOA is encouraging other national, state, and local partners to participate in this nationwide initiative, so we can achieve systemic change.
New Resource: Measuring Well-being of Older Adults
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) has developed a toolkit that provides community-based organizations guidance for how to use the Adult Well-Being Assessment (AWA). The AWA is a practical and easy-to-use method of measuring an older adult’s Quality of Life. The toolkit offers instructions for interpreting AWA results, and describes ways in which your organization can leverage the data to support research, engage funding partners, increase engagement of older adults, allocate resources, and more.
The Challenge
The rising tide of chronic disease, an aging population, structural inequity in health outcomes (despite advances in health care), and new technology all demand a fundamentally different approach to fostering health—one that brings sectors together to address the SBDOH. NCOA is leading the Aging Hub because:
- We believe that every person deserves to age well. The Aging Well Hub allows us to define what aging well means for older adults—and what programs can make it a reality for millions of people.
- We are committed to measuring and scaling innovations that improve lives. We are already tracking our own social impact, improving 10 million lives by 2020 and 40 million by 2030.
- We are committed to strengthening the aging network. The Aging Hub gives our community-based partners, especially senior centers, a uniform way to measure their own impact and improve their services.
Vision and Mission
The vision of the Aging Hub is to build a community of solutions to the most intractable challenges that stand in the way of achieving health, well-being, and equity for older adults. The mission is to create and support a nationwide ecosystem for measuring, fostering, and bringing to scale innovations that address the social and behavioral determinants of health for older adults in the community.
100MLives is grounded in the social and behavioral determinants of health—the idea that where people live, work, and play affects their health and well-being. The initiative also is committed to measuring what matters to track how individual programs and interventions impact a person’s life.
To measure impact, the initiative uses the Adult Well-Being Assessment, which is a validated self-reported survey. The assessment asks individuals to rate their well-being in the areas of finances; physical, mental, and spiritual health; and social support. Asking individuals to complete the survey means we can understand what matters most to them and what difference we are making in their daily lives.
How to Get Involved
Senior centers and other community-based organizations that are interested in this initiative can:
- Commit to the goals of shared measurement and improvement.
- Participate in shared learning opportunities.
Adult Well-being Assessment Tailored for Aging Adults
Part of the 100 Million Lives Aging Hub project is a promising IHI survey tool, known as the Adult Well-being Assessment. The tool is a validated, self-reported survey that asks individuals to rate their overall well-being; finances; state of their physical, mental, and spiritual health; and social support. NCOA added a measure related to social isolation and loneliness, a common and significant issue among older adults. For a simple guide to using the Adult Well-being Assessment (AWA), download here.
NCOA Demographic Questions for 100MLives Aging Well-being Assessment
Looking at findings of self-reported well-being for priority populations such as older women, and focusing on lives by dimensions of sexual orientation, race and ethnicity can help inform strategies for policymakers and public health experts looking for ways to enhance health and well-being at the national, state, and community levels.
NCOA-HealthLeads Social Needs Assessment Tools
This brief assessment tool is based on the HealthLeads Social Needs Screening Tool and adapted for use by organizations working with older adults to identify and screen individuals for adverse social determinants of health. A set of alternative questions are presented, where appropriate. Health Leads developed the Social Needs Screening Tool and published it, alongside a comprehensive Social Needs Screening Toolkit , in the Summer of 2016, to guide organizations with the effective administration and use of the tool.
For more information, please contact Kathleen Cameron at kathleen.cameron@ncoa.org or Dorothea Vafiadis at dorothea.vafiadis@ncoa.org.
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