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This project consists of an exploratory research pertaining to the issues linked to the future life planning of elderly parents of an adult with Down syndrome. The studies we inventoried mainly focused on the amount of residential, financial and legal planning undertaken by these elderly parents. In our study, a fourth planning modality emerged, namely affective planning.This fourth modality, which posses a greater relational dimension, is highly significant in the eyes of the perpetual parents. To apprehend this concept in more depth, it appeared important to us to question ourselves about the reasons that drive a parent to engage or not in future planning. From a life-course perspective, this study had, as its first specific objective, to identify the subjective dimensions of experience that facilitate or act as obstacles to the initiation of a life planning process and, as its second specific objective, to explore the perceived needs for formal or informal support of the elderly parents in regards to planning. Our results demonstrate that many dimensions modulate the engagement of parents in such a process. Amongst the elements acting as barriers, we find, notably, the negative experiences and representations of formal services, the negative representations of alternative long-term care institutions and the religious, family or continuity values of the parents. The favorable aspects notably include the regular recourse to respite services and formal services. We've also demonstrated the importance of siblings in regards to immediate instrumental and affective support, but also their capital role concerning future planning. In terms of the perceived needs of the parents, needs for general information about potential alternatives, for financial support and for respite were frequently expressed by the ageing parents.

Introduction. Although Lifestyle Redesign® has been shown to be effective in improving older adults’ health and well-being, little is known about the feasibility of implementing this program to develop meaningful and health-promoting routines of community-dwelling older adults in Canada. This study thus aimed to explore the feasibility of implementing a culturally-adapted 6-month version of Lifestyle Redesign® with community-dwelling older French-Canadians with and without disabilities. Methods. An exploratory descriptive qualitative clinical research design was used with 17 older adults living at home or in a seniors’ residence, divided into two groups participating in Lifestyle Redesign®. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and the occupational therapist who delivered the program and recorded clinical notes. Findings. Participants were aged between 65 and 90; they were mainly women (n=11; 64.7%) and 7 (41.2%) had disabilities. The intervention was tailored to the participants’ needs, interests and capacities in each group (e.g., modules selected, number of individual sessions, assistance of volunteer). Over the 6-month period, older adults participated in an average of about 25 group sessions with the occupational therapist and in four or five outings with their group (e.g., restaurant, market, museum) and attended between five and eleven individual sessions with the occupational therapist. The most common reasons for missing group sessions were being ill, working, or having another appointment. Personal facilitators and barriers to participation in the intervention were mainly related to abilities, needs, spiritual life, and health. Environmental facilitators were mostly the regularity of the sessions, group and external support, including human resources to deliver the intervention, while barriers were the residence’s time restrictions and staff’s attitudes, cost of some activities targeted in the program, and transportation pr