How and why do some older adults adapt and thrive better than others in the face of challenges? Do prior life experiences, such as military service, play a role in developing resiliency at older ages? These are just a couple of questions Jessica Dekker aims to explore using the CLSA dataset for her master’s thesis.
The McGill University graduate student sat down with the CLSA to discuss her research project, which examines more than 4,000 CLSA participants who self-identified as Veterans. Using three waves of CLSA data and the COVID-19 Questionnaire Study, Dekker will examine pre-pandemic psychological resilience in older Veterans, how resilience manifests over time, and how it relates to pandemic experiences and health states.
Tell me a little bit about yourself. What are you studying and why did you choose your academic path?
I’m a second-year Master of Science student in epidemiology at McGill University, and I also completed my undergraduate degree at McGill in math and statistics with a minor in life sciences. Epidemiology is the perfect marriage of my passion for healthcare and my passion for statistics. It allows me to apply my quantitative skills to something that can have a direct, positive outcome.
What interested you about the CLSA?
My interest in the CLSA is two-fold. On a personal note, I’m from Hamilton and my dad has been enrolled in the study since 2010. He’s part of the Comprehensive Cohort, so he would go into the Data Collection Site for scans and other physical measures. So, I’ve always had a bit of baseline knowledge about the CLSA because my dad was enrolled and I grew up with it.
My other interest is academic. The CLSA is the lead study on aging within the Canadian population. To get to be at the forefront of that and use some of these newly collected data is fascinating. When I came to McGill, I was looking for a thesis supervisor. I met Dr. Christina Wolfson, a principal investigator of the CLSA, and saw that our backgrounds were really aligned. She started off in mathematics and statistics, and also found herself in epidemiology.
Can you tell me more about your CLSA research project?
My thesis project is Positive epidemiology, pre- and peri-pandemic psychological resilience and older veterans within the CLSA. A lot of the time, epidemiological research can focus on negative health assets, negative outcomes or negative risk factors. I think this is particularly true around Veterans.
For this project, which was funded by a CIHR CLSA catalyst grant, the goal was to frame it in more of a positive light, focusing on the health assets that Veterans may have that could support them throughout aging and also supported them during their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this research, we will take a resiliency orientation where outcomes will be defined positively (i.e., absence of anxiety, screening negative for depression) rather than defined negatively (i.e., screening positive for PTSD). By switching that lens, we hope to see how some of these assets promote positive well-being.
What do we know right now about the resilience of veterans?
Previously, there’s been a cross-sectional analysis of the CLSA Baseline data collected from the same Veterans that I’m using for my thesis work. The researchers from the same team that I am currently working with found similar levels of physical health among Veterans and non-Veterans. But they found overall slightly better mental health in Veterans. This led to the question of whether Veterans are more resilient as they age, and whether this could inform positive health outcomes.
In the US, there have been a lot more studies conducted on resiliency among their Veteran population. The US National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study captured some data on resiliency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we have not found any Canadian studies investigating older Veterans, resiliency or the trajectory of resilience years after leaving active duty.
Why is it important to study resilience?
Resilience is all about adaptability – how you persevere during challenging or difficult times. Studying resilience in the context of COVID-19 could potentially help us understand how different groups, including Veterans and Non-Veterans, adapted to the challenges of the pandemic. That could shed light on some of the longer term impacts on mental health or overall well-being.
What stage are you at with your research?
I am at the beginning of my thesis writing. I’ve completed a systematic review of the literature, looking at the psychological well-being or psychological health of Veterans within Canada. I’ve also done some of the initial descriptive analysis of the Baseline cohort within the CLSA.
One of the things I really hope to understand from this research is the health assets. I like the idea of looking at things from a positive lens, and I really hope to see what the indicators of overall positive well-being compared to negative well-being. The goal of this research is to help inform programs or policies of the positive outcomes instead of trying to explain some of the negative outcomes.
Why is the CLSA an ideal platform to study Veteran health?
One of the main strengths is the consistency of the data collection on the cohort of Veterans within the CLSA. The participants were recruited between 2010 to 2015 and followed throughout the pandemic and post-pandemic eras. This contrasts with the longitudinal study I mentioned in the United States, where those who were recruited in, say, 2011 were only followed until 2018, and then a new cohort was recruited from 2019 to 2022.
With the CLSA, we have longitudinal data on the group of Veterans who have been tracked without any gaps in data collection or the introduction of a new cohort. That’s a huge asset.
You recently received the Dr. Mark Zamorski Award at the 2024 Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Forum. How will this award support your research?
In October, I attended the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Forum in Winnipeg. I was there to be presented the Dr. Mark Zamorski Award in honour of Dr. Mark Zamorski who led the Research and Analysis section of the Directorate of Mental Health for the Canadian Forces Health Services Group. He specialized in epidemiological and health services research on mental health problems within military personnel, so this research award is in his legacy to support a postgraduate project looking at an epidemiological approach to mental health within either active military service members or Veterans and/or their families.
This research award is helping me to work full-time on my thesis, which is a weight lifted off financially. But it is also helping me to make connections within the military and Veteran health research community in Canada.
The CLSA would not be possible without the contributions of its participants. What message would you share with them as a trainee using the platform?
Thinking forward to Remembrance Day, I would also like to say a huge thank you to the active service members, retired military service members and the Veterans within Canada.
The CLSA such a robust study and to be able to do thesis work using data from one of the biggest studies in Canada is such a privilege. It’s really incredible the number of participants that have been in the study for over 10 to 15 years. Their contributions help to inform policy and provide essential opportunities for training for students like me.
