Social Capital Interventions to Promote Healthy Aging

Abstract

Thanks to improvements in longevity combined with declining fertility rates, almost every society in the world—even middle income countries—is experiencing population aging. Population aging represents a phenomenon that is unprecedented in the history of the planet, and it brings with it unique challenges, such as how to promote the healthy and productive aging of older people (and keep medical costs down), and how to keep social security systems solvent. In this chapter, we review evidence on interventions conducted in Japan that have leveraged the concept of social capital to improve health outcomes among aging populations. We describe evidence from model interventions that attempted to boost social capital by promoting inter-generational interaction between seniors and school-children [REsearch of PRoductivity by INTergenerational Sympathy (REPRINTS)], and that promoted social interaction among the elderly within a municipality (the Taketoyo Project).