Christine (Chris) Mills is a registered dietitian and PhD candidate in Aging and Health at Queen's University, Kingston. Her dissertation research focuses on nutrition risk in community-dwelling older adults and innovative models for aging-in-place in naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs). Using mixed methods, Chris is examining the experiences of older adults living in NORCs and their nutrition risk status. She is also examining correlates and predictors of nutrition risk and changes in nutrition risk using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Chris completed her master of public health and dietetic internship at the University of Toronto, where she researched added sugars in the Canadian food supply, and her bachelor of applied science in applied human nutrition at the University of Guelph where she examined attitudes towards obesity among dietetic students and consumer perceptions of low-sodium cheese. Prior to studying dietetics, Chris worked as a federal public servant at the Public Health Agency of Canada. She also worked as a dietitian in primary care before returning to university to pursue doctoral studies. Other interests include interprofessional primary care, weight bias, food insecurity in older adults, unpaid caregiving, and nutrition knowledge and status of military and veteran families.
Remote speaker / Presenting virtually
Nutrition risk may be linked to poor self-rated health. Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) we examined the relationship between nutrition risk and self-rated health, mental health, and healthy aging. The CLSA is a study of more than 50,000 Canadians who were between the ages of 45 and 85 when recruited at baseline between 2010 and 2015. First follow-up data were gathered between 2015 and 2018. Nutrition risk was measured using the abbreviated version of Seniors in the Community: Risk Evaluation for Eating and Nutrition (SCREEN-8). Self-rated health, mental health, and healthy aging were measured by asking participants if they rated these are excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. We used Spearman’s rho to examine the relationship between SCREEN-8 scores at baseline and first follow-up and self-rated health measures. We found that self-rated health, mental health, and healthy aging were all correlated with SCREEN-8 scores at baseline and at first follow-up. Asking about health, mental health, and healthy aging may therefore help to identify individuals who should be screened for nutrition risk.