Healthy Lifestyles, Health Inequalities and Ageing: Critical Perspectives and New Reflections in Community Development
In Quebec, chronic disease prevention through lifestyle is now an integrated part of public health discourse when it comes to healthy aging. This article aims to initiate a critical reflection on some assumptions of current preventive health discourse and its influence on health inequities in a context of aging populations. Analyses integrate results from two independent research projects focusing on the health of aging individuals from the province of Quebec. Results highlight incompatibility of the preventive health discourse with both the experience of underprivileged subgroups and premises of community development. Our findings contribute to the emergence of new perspectives to empower public decision makers and support communities in their contribution to enhance health and well-being of all aging individuals.