Age-friendly Communities Research Articles

Neighborhood Environment, Lifestyle, and Health of Older Adults: Comparison of Age Groups Based on Ecological Model of Aging

Worldwide population aging is currently in acceleration, which is especially true for China. Echoing the advocacy of “active aging” and “age-friendly communities”, governments and researchers across the world are paying more attention to the impact of neighborhoods on the health of older adults. Using the Ecological Model of Aging, this study aimed to discuss the relationships between neighborhood environment, lifestyle, and health of older adults, and to compare the differences among older adults of different age groups. The results showed that landscape environment has a direct effect on the health of older adults, while leisure environment has an indirect effect through lifestyle. Both leisure environment and landscape environment directly encourage older adults to take part in outdoor activity, in which the former mainly promotes the social participation of the high-aged (aged 80+) group, while the latter merely promotes that of the middle-aged (aged 70–79) group. The positive effect of social participation on health is gradually strengthened with the increase of age. Meanwhile, outdoor activity has its greatest effect on the middle-aged (aged 70–79) group, but not the low-aged (aged 60–69) group. To effectively boost the health of older adults and promote active aging, adequate considerations should also be given to the differentiated demands of older adults of different age groups, optimization of neighborhood environment, as well as cultivation of an amicable atmosphere.

A Review of Age Friendly Virtual Assistive Technologies and their Effect on Daily Living for Carers and Dependent Adults

Many barriers exist in the lives of older adult’s, including health, transport, housing, isolation, disability and access to technology. The appropriate integration of technology within age-friendly communities continues to offer possible solutions to these barriers and challenges. Older adults and disabled people continue to be affected and marginalized due to lack of access to the digital world. Working collaboratively with planners, policy makers and developers, social and living spaces in the future will ensure that residents are equipped to live in an era that continues to be led by, and is dependent upon, access to technology. This review paper uniquely draws together the small volume of literature from the fields of gerontology, gerontechnology, human computer interaction (HCI), and disability. This paper examines the national and international age-friendly frameworks regarding older adults who are carers of dependent people with disabilities.

Making Homes More Dementia-Friendly through the Use of Aids and Adaptations.

The majority of people with dementia live in their own homes, often supported by a family member. While this is the preferred option for most, they often face multiple challenges due to a deterioration in their physical and cognitive abilities. This paper reports on a pilot study that aimed to explore the impacts of aids and adaptations on the wellbeing of people with dementia and their families living at home. Quantitative data were collected using established measures of wellbeing at baseline, 3 months and 9 months. In-depth case studies were carried out with a sample of participants. Findings from the pilot suggest that relatively inexpensive aids can contribute towards the maintenance of wellbeing for people with dementia in domestic settings. The project also increased the skills and confidence of professionals involved in the project and strengthened partnerships between the collaborating organisations across health, housing and social care. Providing aids that can help people with dementia to remain living at home with a good quality of life, often with the support of a family member, is an important element in the development of age-friendly communities.

Older women’s engagement in community occupations: Considerations of lifespan and place

Background: To reach the promise of age-friendly communities, more complete understandings of how participation in community occupations occurs, in place and over time, is needed.Aim: To explore older Canadian women’s engagement in community occupations as it occurs over the lifespan and in context.Materials and methods: Data from three selected participants were drawn from an exploration of older adults’ social connectedness in neighbourhoods, which involved an ethnographic approach involving narrative interviews, go-along interviews, and activity tracking and follow-up interviews. A transactional lens oriented analysis, considering occupation in place, over time. Analysis involved identifying key storylines and themes and drew on conceptualizations of transition and continuity.Results: The participants’ stories revolved around two themes: continuity within leisure over time and social engagement as a work in progress. The participants demonstrated differing patterns of achieving continuity within leisure and worked to maintain social engagement in the face of continually evolving social networks.Conclusions and significance: Findings enhance understandings of transition, continuity and the transactions between person and place that shape leisure and social engagement over time. Occupational therapists can consider community occupations from a transactional lens within services and policy to better support older women’s participation and inclusion in neighbourhoods.

Community-level factors that contribute to First Nations and Inuit older adults feeling supported to age well in a Canadian city

Despite the proliferation of age-friendly cities in Canada that are intended to support older adults to age well, there are still many inequalities between groups of older adults, particularly, and of concern for this paper, between Indigenous older adults, who experience colonialism's ongoing impacts, and non-Indigenous older adults. A better understanding of factors that inform these inequalities will help in the development of policies and programs that better support Indigenous older adults to age well and, thus, will contribute to ameliorating the inequalities that they face. Using a community-based participatory research approach, informed by a postcolonial theoretical lens, in this paper we addressed the question, “what community-level factors contribute to Indigenous older adults (aged 55 years and over) feeling supported to age well in the city of Ottawa?” We specifically examined this question in relation to the age-friendly communities framework, which guides the City of Ottawa's Older Adult Plan. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and photovoice with 32 First Nations and Inuit older adults revealed that the participants felt both supported and unsupported to age well. More specifically, there were two main areas in which they felt they could be better supported to age well: the social environment and physical environment. There were three subthemes within the social environment theme: responsive health and community support services, respect and recognition, and communication and information. Within the physical environment theme there were four subthemes: transportation, housing, accessibility, and gathering space. The results demonstrate that despite there being similarities in the areas that the participants felt they needed support and the areas on which the Older Adult Plan focuses, if the domains of aging well initiatives do not better account for the impacts of colonialism, it is unlikely that they will be effective in supporting Indigenous older adults' health and well-being.

Can Shahindezh be an age-friendly city? A case study

Background: Population aging is one of the challenges of the 21st century in the world, and in Iran. Elderly people should be able to participate in social activities befitting their age and be respected. In the last ten years, following the efforts of the WHO to develop the age-friendly Program, the age-friendly community s movements have attracted the attention of policymakers. So, this study was carried out with the aim to investigate the comparison of Shahindezh city with the standard indices of Elderly-friendly City. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was implemented in 100 elders (above 60 years) referring to health centers of Shahindezh city, Nov-Dec 2018. Samples were selected through multi-stage sampling from 3 health centers of the city. Inclusion criteria were age over 60 years and living in Shahindezh. The WHO standard questionnaire was used; its validity has been confirmed. SPSS software was used to analyze the data and T-test was used to compare the mean of the indices. Results: A total of 100 elderly people participated in this study. Their average age was 72.41 ± 9.81, with the most (35%) at 65 years old. 46% of them were male. The results show that among the social, communicational, cultural-health and health indices, the highest percentage of dissatisfaction was related to the lack of computer and Internet educational facilities for the elderly, the inadequacy of urban furniture for the elderly. Also, the necessary training is not given to families for the care of the elderly. Findings also show that the average of all the criteria (social, communicative, cultural-psychological, and health) is lower than the standards. Conclusion: It is suggested that policymakers plan to increase the indices with the least average compared to the standard and thus provide welfare and health to the elderly.

ALVALADE: once modern never old (but age-friendly)

Portugal, namely, Lisbon had in the middle of the 20th century a young and growing population for which new and modernist housing solutions were designed, turning the new Alvalade district into a modernist laboratory. But time passed by and half a century later, at the dawn of the new millennium, Alvalade was already a NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community): its initial population had aged in place (Pastalan, 1990), making it a modernist environment now inhabited by older people who were no longer the stylish MOD inhabitants envisioned by modernist architects in the 50’s. This is the main issue we will address in this article: how to reuse and adapt this modernist global environment (public spaces, buildings, and interiors), respecting its high-quality design standards and yet turning it into an age-friendly community as a case study for wider dissemination.

Building Virtual Age-Friendly Communities in Minecraft

ABSTRACTA key theme of Age-Friendly Honolulu’s initiative is intergenerational exchange. The initiative believes that youth need to be aware of aging issues, demographic change, and think critically about the potential impact on their lives. The goal of the Age-Friendly Honolulu Youth Engagement Initiative is to teach youth about the role of the built environment and community features in promoting active aging and engagement among older adults. This article describes a new program in the field that teaches youth and older adults to assess the built environment and then use design thinking and Minecraft (a popular video game in which players use 3-D blocks to create virtual lands) to develop and envision ideas to improve the livability of their neighborhood.

Environment, Housing, and Age-Friendly Communities

Environment, Housing, and Age-Friendly Communities

Creating Age-Friendly Communities using a participatory approach

The International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC) is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes original articles in the field of integrated care on a continuous basis.IJIC has an Impact Factor of 5.120 (2020 JCR, received in June 2021)

Promoting Age-Friendly Communities: an Integrative Review of Inclusion for Older Immigrants.

Promoting Age-Friendly Communities: an Integrative Review of Inclusion for Older Immigrants.

Facilitators and Barriers to Becoming Age-Friendly: A Review

ABSTRACT This interpretive review examined the empirical evidence of the factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of age-friendly community and city (AFCC) initiatives. Thirteen studies were included in the review. Findings show three themes: enablers (consisting of the subthemes of multilevel leadership and a common vision, effective governance and management, and diverse partnerships); process-related factors (e.g., linking to other strategies); and contextual factors (e.g., rural/urban). Moreover, several underlying influencers intersect with these themes, such as how age-friendliness is conceptualized. This review shows that there is a need for more process evaluations. The AFCC movement would also benefit from drawing on other relevant work, such as literature in the areas of coalitions, public administration, and political studies.

Older Adults’ Experiences of Community Mobility in an Indian Metropolis: A Qualitative Study

Aims: This study aimed to explore and understand how older adults experience community mobility within an urban Indian context, using a phenomenological approach. Methods: Ten older adults residing in Chennai city participated in this study. The investigator conducted individual, in-depth interviews of 60–75 minutes each. Results: Participants placed high value on community mobility, which contributed to their occupational participation and well-being. Participants identified numerous physical, social and attitudinal barriers to community mobility in their environment, leading to fear and restrictions in community mobility. Conclusion: The study findings underscore the need for the development of age-friendly communities within Indian society to promote occupational justice for older adults. Occupational therapists in India can intervene at the government, community, family and individual levels to enable older adults’ community mobility and occupational participation. Future research to investigate context-specific interventions to facilitate older adults’ community mobility is recommended.

Mapping neighbourhood outdoor activities: space, time, gender and age

This paper investigates spatial, temporal, age and gender patterns of outdoor social activities in urban neighbourhoods and their correlation with properties of urban form. Informed by theories and mapping techniques in urban sociology, urban design and behavioural research, the paper develops a methodology for mapping outdoor social activities and applies it to four case studies in London and Berlin. Findings demonstrate how different types of activities are spatially distributed, reflecting socio-spatial characteristics of the given neighbourhood. The paper elaborates the contribution of the research to ongoing debates such as gendered space and age-friendly communities and suggests methodological improvements for future research.

Framing connectedness in age-friendly communities

Framing connectedness in age-friendly communities

Social and cyber-connectedness in age-friendly communities

Social and cyber-connectedness in age-friendly communities

Defining and characterising age-friendly community pharmacies: a qualitative study.

The Global Network of Age-friendly Cities is a project promoted by the World Health Organization as a response to demographic ageing and urbanization process. San Sebastian, Spain, is one of these Age-friendly Cities and community pharmacies of the city joined the initiative. To define and implement the Age-friendly Pharmacy concept to promote active ageing, optimize the contribution of community pharmacies of San Sebastian to the friendliness of the city and to the improvement of quality of life of the ageing population. A bottom-up participative approach was undertaken. A focus group was conducted to determine elderly people's opinions and expectations of community pharmacy. The information obtained was analysed using content analysis and validated for reliability, usefulness and applicability through three expert groups of community pharmacy owners and staff. Fifteen requirements were agreed, covering four main areas: relationships, pharmacy layout, pharmaceutical services and communication of services. Initially, 18 community pharmacies committed to become Age-friendly Pharmacies by pledging to these requirements and the Official Pharmacist Association of Gipuzkoa supported pharmacies in the implementation of the initiative. This study suggests that there is demand for a patient-centred community pharmacy to support older people, in which pharmaceutical care services are required. The 18 Age-friendly Pharmacies together with the Official Pharmacist Association of Gipuzkoa have publicly committed to actively work on social and patient-centred care to meet the needs of the ageing population.

Heterogeneous Age-Friendly Environments among Age-Cohort Groups

This study aimed to identify the underlying structures of age-friendly environmental characteristics and examine how they may vary across age-cohort groups based on life satisfaction. We used regionally representative data in South Korea. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted for age-friendly environmental indicators in three age-cohort groups. Regression models examined the association between the environmental factors and life satisfaction in the three age-cohort groups. Across all age groups, three factors converged: neighborhood problems, access to public services and programs, and community engagement. Regression analyses showed the three convergent environmental factors were all significantly associated with life satisfaction across all age-groups, but the association varies across the age-groups. The age-cohort based factor structures and differential patterns of association with well-being provide important background information on designing age-friendly communities.

Pets, Social Participation, and Aging-in-Place: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

ABSTRACTThe objective of this study was to assess whether pet ownership contributes to social participation and life satisfaction for older adults. We used baseline data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) for this purpose, and logistic regression models to estimate associations between social participation and life satisfaction for pet owners and non-owners. One third of all older adults (≥ 65 years, n = 7,474) in our sample reported pet ownership. Pet owners were less likely than non-pet owners to report life satisfaction and to participate frequently in social, recreational, or cultural activities, but pet owners were no less satisfied than were non-owners with their current levels of social participation. For pet owners experiencing barriers to social participation, pets appeared protective of life satisfaction in some circumstances. Both individual characteristics and structural factors linked to the World Health Organization's age-friendly communities framework were relevant to understanding these findings.

Pathways to age-friendly communities in diverse urban neighborhoods: Do social capital and social cohesion matter?

ABSTRACTUsing a social capital and social cohesion lens, we reposition the concept of civic engagement among older adults to examine pathways for building age-friendly communities. We analyzed data drawn from a Community-Based Participatory Research study in the Southern U.S. that explored lived experiences of older adults, age 55 and above, who participated in individual interviews (n = 15) and six focus group discussions (n = 45) to examine their perceptions of social identity, social connectedness, and civic engagement geared toward an age-friendly city. Findings indicated that several older adults had access to social networks and socially invested resources, thereby having opportunities for civic engagement and building age-friendly neighborhoods. However, social, cultural, linguistic, and structural barriers were more evident among certain diverse ethnic populations. Marginalized low-income minorities and immigrants, such as Hispanic participants, felt the lack of social cohesion among the larger society limited their ability to give back, thus decreasing their civic engagement activities. In contrast, Caucasian and African-American older adults were able to contribute to the political process through more civic participation activities. We provide implications for examining the role of social capital and social engagement to bolster civic engagement among older adults in building age-friendly communities.