Several studies have linked social factors with outcomes relevant to aging, including diet, mental health, and cognitive functioning. However, social factors are multi-dimensional and may function synergistically when evaluated in combination. This webinar will present a novel approach for characterizing profiles of a social environment, reflecting a combination of multiple social factors related to network size, social cohesion, social support, and social isolation. Associations between the social environment profiles and outcomes related to healthy aging will be discussed, including nutritional risk and cognitive functioning.
Professor Daiva Nielsen is a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Ingestive Behaviour and an associate professor in the School of Human Nutrition at McGill University. Her research examines diverse biological and social factors that relate to eating behaviour and health. She applies epidemiological and experimental methods to comprehensively investigate complex patterns of relationships between behaviour and health.
Katherine Labonté received her PhD in cognitive psychology from Laval University. Her expertise is in human decision-making, and she has worked on multidisciplinary projects focused on performance in complex work environments, food-related inhibition, social factors and cognition. She is currently a research professional at Laval University, where she works on the assessment of climate change knowledge among the general public while also conducting experimental research in cognitive psychology.
