Andie MacNeil

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Social Work

Objectives (1) In a subsample of older adults with asthma without a history of depression, to determine the factors associated with developing depression during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) in a subsample of older adults with asthma with a history of depression, to identify factors associated with recurrent depression during the pandemic. Methods Da...

Previous research has found higher levels of educational attainment to be strongly associated with better health outcomes in later life, such as better cognitive functioning and fewer functional and sensory impairments. However, most studies have grouped General Educational Development (GED) recipients with high school graduates, neglecting potenti...

Elder abuse is recognized as a pervasive public health problem with detrimental consequences for older adults and society. Although considerable research has examined elder abuse risk factors at the individual level, there is a growing call for the field to move beyond proximal causes and consider broader socio-cultural and structural factors that...

Previous research has found higher levels of educational attainment to be strongly associated with better health outcomes in later life, such as better cognitive functioning and fewer functional and sensory impairments. However, most studies have grouped General Educational Development (GED) recipients with high school graduates, neglecting potenti...

Despite the increasing number of elder abuse (EA) cases, many EA victims are reluctant to engage with formal support services, such as Adult Protective Services (APS). For EA interventions to be effective, it is important to overcome this client reluctance. This study examined the use of motivational interviewing (MI) by elder advocates, as a compo...

Researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers worldwide recognize elder abuse (EA) as a major threat to the health and well-being of older adults, but rigorous intervention research has greatly lagged behind this interest. A major weakness is the lack of cohesive understanding of appropriate program outcomes to be measured. To address this knowledg...

The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying public health measures have exacerbated many risk factors for depression in older adulthood. The objectives of the current study are: (1) to determine the risk of incident and recurrent depression during the COVID-19 pandemic among those with, or without, a history of depression; and (2) to identify factors th...

Our understanding of effective elder abuse (EA) response interventions is limited. Adult Protective Services (APS), the primary agency responsible for responding to EA, lacks a coherent, conceptually driven, prolonged intervention phase. Informed by an ecological-systems perspective and adapting evidence-based modalities from other fields, the RISE...

Despite the mental health and social challenges of ADHD, many adults with ADHD can achieve complete mental health (CMH), which is defined as, (1) the absence of mental illness, substance dependence, and suicidality; (2) the presence of happiness/life satisfaction; and (3) social/psychological well-being. The objective of this study was to compare t...

This study investigated the prevalence of and factors associated with complete mental health (CMH) among a nationally representative sample of Canadians who had contact with child welfare services before age 16. CMH was defined as (1) the absence of suicidality, mental illness, and substance abuse or dependence in the preceding year; (2) happiness...

Background: Sensory impairments and cognitive impairment are increasing in scope due to the aging population. Objective: To investigate the association between hearing impairment, vision impairment, and dual sensory impairment with cognitive impairment among older adults. Methods: Secondary analysis of a combination of ten consecutive waves (2...

Background Prior research is limited and inconsistent on the degree to which elder mistreatment (EM) is associated with mortality. This study uses data from a 10-year, prospective, population-based study of EM to determine the adjusted effects of EM on older adult mortality, after controlling for other health and socioeconomic covariates. Methods...

Background Research has identified a link between Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The aims of this study were to investigate the relationship between ADHD and GAD, and to identify significant correlates of GAD among those with ADHD. Methods Data were derived from the nationally representative...

The COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing limitations have had a profound impact on funeral practices and associated grieving processes. The purpose of the present scoping review is to summarize the existing literature on the emerging use of virtual funerals. Five medical databases, five social science databases, and five grey literature databa...

Homelessness and elder abuse are two major public health issues affecting older adults that are increasing in scope due to global population aging. While these issues have typically been examined separately, this commentary considers the often overlooked intersection between homeless older people and victims of elder abuse through two pathways: (1)...

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate factors associated with complete mental health (CMH) among a nationally representative sample of Canadians who had a history of suicide attempts. Methods Data for this study came from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey–Mental Health. A subsample of 796 respondents who had ever attempted sui...

Research on recovery from drug dependence is largely focused on abstinence without consideration of other aspects of mental health. The present study seeks to identify among Canadians with a lifetime history of illicit drug dependence, the prevalence of, and factors associated with (1) remission, (2) absence of psychiatric disorders (APD), and (3)...

Elder mistreatment is recognized as a pervasive public health problem with detrimental consequences for older adults and society. Although considerable research has examined elder mistreatment risk factors at the individual level, there is a growing call for the field to move beyond proximal causes and consider underlying structural factors that in...

Researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers worldwide recognize elder abuse (EA) as a major threat to the health and well-being of older adults, but rigorous intervention research has greatly lagged behind this interest. A major weakness is the lack of cohesive understanding of appropriate program outcomes to be measured. To address this knowledg...

This article examines whether disorderly household conditions and bodily self-presentation predict mortality, above and beyond four sets of variables conceptually linked to both death and disorder. Data come from 2005/2006 and 2010/2011 waves of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. We used naturalistic observation of respondents' ho...