Healthy Aging

In this program, you can expect to deepen your understanding of how biological, behavioural and social factors shape healthy aging, and translate that knowledge into more person centred, age inclusive decisions in your day to day work. You build skills to recognize and address ageism, interpret age-related changes, develop person-centred care plans, and communicate more effectively with people in aging populations, so you can better support their health, participation and quality of life.

By the end of this program, you’ll be able to:

• Explain how biological, behavioural, social, cultural, and environmental factors interact to influence healthy aging.
• Describe how aging affects functional capacity, resilience, frailty, and intrinsic capacity, and apply these concepts to support healthy aging in healthcare and community settings.
• Promote evidence-informed lifestyle approaches that support healthy aging, including physical activity, healthy eating, sleep, and behaviour change strategies that help maintain function, independence, and quality of life.
• Recognize and address ageism, social determinants of health, and cultural perspectives that influence the experiences and well-being of older adults, including Indigenous perspectives on aging.
• Communicate effectively, respectfully, and inclusively with older adults, adapting communication approaches to support participation, autonomy, and person-centred care.
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals, community organizations, and older adults to develop person-centred approaches that promote healthy aging, participation, and independence

Developed in partnership with the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, the UBC Micro-certificate in Healthy Aging brings together instructors from medicine, kinesiology, audiology, speech pathology, nutrition and occupational science. You learn from leading researchers and practitioners who are actively engaged in aging research and practice and gain practical tools you can take back to health, social and community settings right away to strengthen both your impact and your career opportunities in seniors care and healthy aging.

This program is designed for people who support aging populations in health, social and community settings and want more applied, person centred skills for healthy aging and seniors care. It’s especially relevant if you’re already working with people experiencing age related changes and want to be better equipped to support their dignity, independence and quality of life.

You may work as or with:

• Allied health professionals for example physiotherapists, occupational therapists, kinesiologists, audiologists, social workers and recreation therapists
• Staff in community-based seniors services and non profit organizations that design or deliver programs for aging populations
• Nurses, care aides and other team members in hospitals, primary care, home and community care, and long-term or residential care
• Program coordinators, managers or leaders in health, social and community services who want to shape more age inclusive policies, programs and environments
• Health and social care practitioners in a variety of roles who regularly interact with older adults and want to build confidence in applying current evidence, along with person-centred care and communication strategies, in their day-to-day practice — while preparing for growing career opportunities in seniors care and healthy aging.

Each course costs $500. The total program cost is $2,000.  There are four courses, learners complete all four courses to access a credential.

All fees are in Canadian dollars, subject to change and to GST (where applicable). For details on forms of payment accepted, please see How to pay.

Find more details on refunds, cancellations and transfers.

The UBC Micro-certificate in Healthy Aging consists of four courses. You may take the courses individually and in any order. However, we recommend starting with Understanding Functional Aging: A Geroscience Perspective, as it provides the foundational knowledge for the courses that follow. To earn your credential and gain the most value from the program, you must successfully complete all four courses, which together build a comprehensive, cross disciplinary understanding of healthy aging.

Required Courses

The UBC Micro-certificate in Healthy Aging is a part-time 100% online program that is facilitator supported. You work through course modules on your own time over six to eight weeks per course. Join virtual office hours for Q&A and discussions. You also have access to an online forum where you can post questions, share insights and connect with other learners.

Facilitators provide feedback on your assignments and offer virtual office hours so you can ask questions and reflect on how to apply what you’re learning in your work.

Expected effort

The micro-certificate consists of four short courses, each approximately 12 to 15 hours. Learners participate in the four courses for a total of about 50-60 hours on learning activities, including reviewing readings and videos, engaging with case studies, completing assignments and quizzes, taking part in discussion forums, and attending the real-time online sessions.

Assessment

You are assessed on successfully completing online assignments and reflective activities that ask you to apply program concepts to your own practice, as well as on your contributions to discussion posts and other interactive learning tasks. These activities are marked using a proficiency or pass/fail scale, and you receive feedback from your facilitator/instructor to support your learning. You must successfully complete the required assessments in all four courses to earn your micro-certificate.

Obtaining your credential

When you have successfully completed the program requirements, you will receive a digital badge for the UBC Micro-certificate in Healthy Aging.

Registered students can review and print enrolment documents by logging into your Lifelong Learning account.  

The courses in this program are developed and taught by instructors from the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging and faculty from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Schools of Audiology & Speech Sciences and Kinesiology, and Departments of Medical Genetics, Medicine, and Occupational Sciences & Occupational Therapy.

They bring together expertise in geroscience, ageism, socio cultural perspectives, lifestyle and behavioural factors, and communication, and are actively engaged in aging research and practice in health, social and community settings.

• Dr. James McKendry, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Healthy Aging in the Food, Nutrition and Health Program (Human Nutrition group) in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC. He leads the Muscle Aging (In)activity and Nutrition Laboratory, where his research focuses on how physical activity, inactivity and nutrition influence muscle health and healthy aging across the lifespan.
• Dr. Kim Schmidt, PhD is the Research Director of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging where she is responsible for research strategy, partnership development, and centre operations to advance interdisciplinary aging research. She is involved in several research projects examining the social, biological, and environmental determinants of healthy aging.

The following people were among those consulted in the creation of this micro-certificate and generously shared their expertise to shape its objectives and format.

• Dr. Megan MacPherson, PhD, MScOT, BA, Reg. OT(BC), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. 
• Dr. Najib Ayas, MD, FRCPC, MPH, is a Professor and Associate Head, Research in the Department of Medicine at UBC and Medical Director of the Sleep Disorders Program at UBC Hospital. 
• Dr. Michael Kobor, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics and the Director of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging at the University of British Columbia. 

In addition to the course instructors you will also learn from guest speakers and collaborators who work directly with aging populations, giving you practical perspectives you can apply in your own context.

More information on instructors will be added when available.