The UBCO Applied Behaviour Change Lab Presents:
Dr. Lindsay Kobayashi
David E. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow,
Harvard Center for Population & Development Studies,
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Risks for chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancers increase dramatically with older age. Although prevention and early detection are crucial for healthy aging, older adults face unique challenges to the maintenance of health-promoting behaviors. Perceived life expectancy and health literacy skills both decline during aging, and appear to influence health behaviors such as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and participation in cancer screening. This talk will give an overview of research among older adults (aged 50 years) on the constructs of health literacy and perceived life expectancy, socioeconomic inequalities in their population distributions, and their longitudinal relationships with MVPA and cancer screening uptake. Data are from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Recent results and topics for future research on aging and health behavior will be discussed.
Dr. Lindsay Kobayashi is a social epidemiologist who researches cancer-preventive behaviors and cognitive outcomes in aging populations. Her research uses large population-based datasets, in particular longitudinal cohort studies of aging, with an overarching focus on social inequalities in behavioral and cognitive health. Dr. Kobayashi holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Public Health from University College London, and an MSc in Epidemiology from Queen’s University. She is currently a David E. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies in the Harvard T.H. School of Public Health.
If you would like more information, please email Dr. Heather Gainforth, heather.gainforth@ubc.ca.