معرفی
Alison Phinney is a Professor and Associate Director of Faculty Development at the School of Nursing within the Faculty of Applied Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she maintains an active research program focused on dementia care and community inclusion. Her work bridges academic scholarship with practical community engagement to transform societal approaches to aging.
Her research centers on participatory action methodologies that prioritize lived experience of people with dementia, exploring dementia-friendly urban planning, digital community building, and cultural dimensions of aging (notably Ikigai among Japanese Canadians). She employs narrative and arts-based approaches to investigate oral health impacts on elder well-being, stigma reduction in healthcare, and pandemic-related disruptions to long-term care. Her signature projects—including DemSCAPE for dementia-inclusive streets and the Zeitgeist intergenerational storytelling initiative—emphasize co-design with marginalized communities to develop practical toolkits like 'Flipping Stigma on its Ear'.
Analysis of her 2023-2025 publications reveals three converging trends: (1) Digital innovation for connection through apps like 'WhatMatters' and virtual communities, (2) Critical examination of urban infrastructure's role in dementia inclusion via municipal policy studies, and (3) Culturally responsive frameworks for living well with dementia through narrative and arts-based research. These strands collectively advance her mission to dismantle stigma by centering human agency in care ecosystems.
