Age-friendly Initiatives Research Articles

A Policy Framework for Producing Age-Friendly Communities from the Perspective of Production of Space.

Given various hindrances in the macro context, how to efficiently develop age-friendly community policies requires further research. Currently, such kinds of frameworks are lacking. This paper aims to develop a policy framework to minimise cost and resolve conflict of interest between different generations in age-friendly community development. The study adopted a scientometric method to review the theoretical development of age-friendly community studies. Firstly, with a search for the keywords “age-friendly” and “community” on Web of Science, 72 English academic papers were found containing explicit theories. Most of the studies were conducted in the Global North. Then, a mixed analytical method was used to find a suitable theory, “the production of space”, to develop the policy framework. Lastly, a policy framework was developed to overcome barriers to age-friendly community development strategically. Echoing previous studies, this paper proposes a way to counter financial austerity in age-friendly initiative investment and balance the consideration for older and younger populations in urban development. For practice, the policy framework can provide a reference for more efficient age-friendly community policymaking in different regions. For future research, the framework provides a model for more empirical studies considering the social dynamics in age-friendly community development.

Kathryn Hyer's Lasting Legacy in Gerontology Education and Aging Policy Research

Kathy Hyer, our dear friend, colleague, former Gerontological Society of America President and Professor and Director of the Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging, University of South Florida posthumously has been awarded the Clark Tibbett's Award for her achievements in the advancement of the field of gerontological education in higher education. This lecture will reflect on some of her decades of accomplishments including her dedication to AGHE's mission to train and educate students in gerontology. Her greatest achievement is in the area of training and education of long-term care administration and aging studies undergraduate students to be nursing home and assisted living administrators. This lecture will also highlight several initiatives of Dr. Hyer's that involved undergraduate, graduate students, and junior faculty who she mentored including the Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Project, NIA SAFEHAVEN and COVID research on disasters, the Dementia Training Academy, Age Friendly Initiatives both nationally and internationally and student mentorship for graduate assistantships through the USF Center for End of Life Care.

Starts and Stops: Strategizing an Age-Friendly University Commitment During a Pandemic

The Global Network of Age-Friendly Universities seeks to enhance age-inclusivity and engagement in higher education, but delivering age-friendly programming became very challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine how two land-grant universities adapted to the pandemic and draw some lessons from those experiences that may be useful for other universities seeking to implement or resume the AFU programming. The two main responses were to either pause many of the age-friendly initiatives at the university or adapt to virtual or online delivery platforms. To ensure the health and safety of older adults, colleges and universities paused many age-friendly initiatives such as intergenerational service-learning, technological assistance to older adults, and influenza vaccinations. Other programs continued but in a modified delivery format. Examples include: converting a face-to-face balance-training program to telehealth delivery; transitioning visitation programs to pen pal communication; and replacing face-to-face workshops offered by Extension Services with webinar delivery. Despite these challenges, we conclude that moving to virtual platforms and other methods of delivery, including conventional mail, has in some cases increased access for many older adults and became a lifeline during a time of social isolation for many older adults. Taken together, these experiences highlight the need for age-friendly universities to have contingency plans to ensure continuation of age-friendly programming in the event of pandemics or disasters. Finally, the pause in programming creates opportunities to re-launch or re-organize those initiatives in accord with federal and state safety guidelines.

Enhancing Collaborations between our Age-Friendly Community and University Initiatives

Community involvement and synergistic partnerships are key to fostering a holistic approach to programming and outreach that assess and meet the needs of the older adults in our communities. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has created an Age-Friendly network to facilitate these partnerships featuring our designation of Age-Friendly City and Age-Friendly University as well as partnerships with our state and local governments, community aging services providers, and continuing care retirement communities. Through these partnerships, we have identified the landscape of the community, assessed the unique needs older adults, and identified novel solutions. We will discuss our plans for activities that will empower older adults in our community and at our university by promotion connection, collaboration, and inclusion.

Supporting Educational Needs of Older Adult Learners: Strategies for Virtual Transitioning and Student Engagement

The pandemic has revealed a multitude of challenges disproportionately impacting older adults, including older adult learners. Institutions of higher education are uniquely positioned to respond to various challenges using the guiding framework of the Age-Friendly University global initiative. This presentation highlights how preexisting university student support practices and services were adapted to provide older adult learners with guidance for navigating their educational needs during the pandemic. Specifically, it expands on strategies utilized by Adult Learner Programs and Services to effectively pivot to virtual services to support the advising and programming needs of older adult learners. Survey data identifying areas of interest for virtual programming for older adult students will be explored. Recommendations will be discussed for promoting effective transitioning to virtual support systems, preserving student engagement and intergenerational learning, and advocating for aging to remain central to university diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Age-Friendly Community Practice: Understanding the Role of Community Events

To advance an emerging empirical knowledge base for age-friendly community initiatives (AFCIs), we conducted a qualitative descriptive study to explore one manifestation of age-friendly practice: community events (CEs). We aimed to illuminate how AFCI core teams describe CEs as part of their practice and how they perceive the value of CEs for age-friendly progress. Using inductive coding, we analyzed data from semi-structured interviews (n=24) with eight core teams across three time points spanning the early to mid-implementation phases of the AFCIs. Two predominant themes emerged. First, CEs were described as important for working toward age-friendly goals concerning older residents’ social participation and inclusion. Second, core teams described the longer-term strategic value of CEs, such as building interorganizational partnerships; providing deeper insight on aging in community; and fostering older adults’ leadership as part of the initiative. We discuss implications for advancing transdisciplinary program theory to guide more sustainable and effective AFCIs.

Peer Mentoring to Foster Resilient Age-Friendly Rural Communities in Maine

Maine has a growing number of age-friendly community initiatives (AFCIs); 116 communities are actively working to adapt the social, service, and built environments for aging and 71 have formally joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. During COVID, rural municipalities were faced with dynamic changes that limited older resident’s access to services and social engagement. To overcome these limitations, it is critical for emergent AFCIs to have tools and strategies to maintain and further enhance healthy environments and resilient communities. This study uses group interviews with 6 leaders of established AFCIs and 6 leaders of emergent AFCIs to explore how the Lifelong Fellows Program, a peer mentoring model that matches experienced leaders with newly formed initiatives, was able to spur development of new strategies to build community resilience. Prominent themes were (1) engaging new local and regional partners; (2) intergenerational volunteerism; (3) fun and flexibility; and (4) relationship-building.

Spillover Benefits and Achieving Sustainability of Age-Friendly Communities

Abstract As the age-friendly movement grows in its second decade, urgent questions of initiative sustainability have taken hold in the academic literature and among advocates implementing age-friendly changes. The creation of authentically age-inclusive environments requires not just the continuation of the initiative itself, but that its principles become embedded in formal and informal organizational processes, across sectors and beyond familiar networks focused on older populations. This paper argues that sustainability of age-friendly initiatives is enhanced by “spillover” effects, in which a behavioral or policy change in one environment spurs change in another environment. Evidence for such spillover and an understanding of how and when it occurs is currently limited in the context of age-friendly environments. This paper draws on the experiences of Age-Friendly Boston, which has been working towards age-friendly goals for more than five years. Based on Boston’s experience, we identify, describe, and exemplify three pathways to positive spillover across environments: 1) branding positively; 2) publicizing successes; and 3) embarking on new relationships, while strengthening existing ones, in pursuit of shared goals. We also draw conclusions about what positive spillover means for the sustainability of age-friendly environments.

Modelling age-friendly environment for social connectedness: a cross-sectional study

Background: The increase in aged populations in Malaysia has brought unprecedented challenges to families, policy makers, scholars, and business organisations. This paper adapted the WHO 2007 framework of features of age-friendly cities to examine age-friendly environment constructs and their linkages with social connectedness from the perspective of Malaysian middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves. Methods: A face-to-face cross-sectional survey was conducted on 402 middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves across selected states in west Malaysia, selected via purposive sampling. Firstly, features of age-friendly cities were explored through exploratory factor analysis involving 82 respondents. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was performed, involving 320 respondents. Results: The results indicated that the constructs of an age-friendly environment were built environment, community support and health services, civic participation, and employment as well as communication and information. The structural model provided evidence that implementing age-friendly initiatives relating to built environment, community support and health services, civic participation and employment as well as communication and information enables the ageing population to improve their connectedness with society. These findings supported the ecological theories, agreeing that age-friendly environments help middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves to increase their adaptability and reduce perceived pressure from the environment. This result was in line with the current literature in which an age-friendly environment is a form of support and an enabling environment to cultivate positive social relationships and connectivity. Conclusions: Creating an age-friendly environment that supports active and healthy living for middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves allows them to continue to share their experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. This is helpful and beneficial for societal well-being and economic development as well as for the future generations.

Modelling age-friendly environment for social connectedness: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The increase in aged populations in Malaysia has brought unprecedented challenges to families, policy makers, scholars, and business organisations. This paper adapted the WHO 2007 framework of features of age-friendly cities to examine age-friendly environment constructs and their linkages with social connectedness from the perspective of Malaysian middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves. Methods: A face-to-face cross-sectional survey was conducted on 402 middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves across selected states in west Malaysia, selected via purposive sampling. Firstly, features of age-friendly cities were explored through exploratory factor analysis involving 82 respondents. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was performed, involving 320 respondents. Results: The results indicated that the constructs of an age-friendly environment were built environment, community support and health services, civic participation, and employment as well as communication and information. The structural model provided evidence that implementing age-friendly initiatives relating to built environment, community support and health services, civic participation and employment as well as communication and information enables the ageing population to improve their connectedness with society. These findings supported the ecological theories, agreeing that age-friendly environments help middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves to increase their adaptability and reduce perceived pressure from the environment. This result was in line with the current literature in which an age-friendly environment is a form of support and an enabling environment to cultivate positive social relationships and connectivity. Conclusions: Creating an age-friendly environment that supports active and healthy living for middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves allows them to continue to share their experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. This is helpful and beneficial for societal well-being and economic development as well as for the future generations.

Gerontological nursing competencies: A crosswalk with the 4Ms framework of the age-friendly initiative

ABSTRACT The Age-friendly Health Systems Initiative is a current multidisciplinary movement driving quality improvement across all health care settings. The 4Ms framework (What Matters, Medication, Mobility, and Mentation) provides a common evidence-based language and system of care that can be utilized by all health care providers. Faculty of one nursing program were interested in knowing whether the principles and language of the 4Ms framework align well with the current competencies used to guide undergraduate and beginning level practice for nurses. To answer this question, a crosswalk of curricular and competency guidelines for gerontological nursing was completed to identify how well the competencies aligned with the key concepts of the evidence-based 4Ms framework. Key findings of this crosswalk are being shared with educators for the purpose of describing a systematic way to ensure that the 4Ms are integrated into gerontological curricula and course design. The steps taken to complete the crosswalk are described to guide educators across all disciplines interested in creating curricula that will adequately prepare students to be collaborative partners and leaders in Age-friendly Health Systems.

Staying Connected: Alternative Transportation Use, Neighborhoods, and Social Participation Among Older Americans.

A wealth of empirical evidence documents improved health among older adults who participate in social activities. Alternative transportation can serve as a bridge linking older adults to social activities and improving person-environment fit. Using Waves 1-8 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study, this research examines whether alternative transportation use is associated with participation in diverse social activities among a sample of Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 or older. Additionally, this research explores whether the effect of transportation use varies across neighborhood environments. We analyzed individual trajectories of participation in social activities by estimating 2-level growth curve models. The use of public transportation, paratransit, getting a ride, or walking/using wheelchair/scooter to get places was associated with participating in more types of social activities. Respondents who used alternative transportation had less steep declines in participation. The effect of getting rides and using paratransit services was more pronounced among respondents living in disordered neighborhoods. This research underscores the importance of alternative transportation use and the neighborhood context for participation among older adults. Age-friendly initiatives aimed at fostering greater community engagement should think broadly about the role of multiple forms of transportation.

Exploring the Sustainability of Age-Friendly Initiatives in a Canadian Province.

Based on the World Health Organization Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) framework, the government of Manitoba, Canada, launched a province-wide age-friendly initiative in 2008. The objective of this study was to explore the sustainability of the AFCC initiative more than a decade later. The study was guided by conceptualizations of sustainability as multidimensional and dynamic, composed of 4 aspects (continued capacity, institutionalization, continued benefits, and development/adaptation), and an ecologic perspective that highlights the importance of contextual influences, and their change over time, on AFCC activities. The study involved a qualitative, multiple case study design. Semistructured interviews were conducted in 2020 with a key informant from each of 52 AFCC. Interview data were analyzed deductively, guided by the sustainability framework and an ecologic perspective. Census data were used to describe the demographic characteristics of AFCC. We identified 6 groups of AFCC initiatives that varied in degree from the most to the least sustainable: active, in hiatus, reorganized, stalled, discontinued, and never got off the ground. Both local community factors (e.g., lack of capacity) and broader contextual factors, such as demographic changes and provincial legislations, influenced initiatives' sustainability. AFCC initiatives can range in their degree of sustainability and can wax or wane over time. Ongoing external support for AFCC (e.g., from provincial or state government) to promote the vision of age-friendliness and to address lack of capacity (e.g., to assist with community assessments) could help with the long-term sustainability of initiatives.

Spillover Benefits and Achieving Sustainability of Age-Friendly Communities.

As the age-friendly movement grows in its second decade, urgent questions of initiative sustainability have taken hold in the academic literature and among advocates implementing age-friendly changes. The creation of authentically age-inclusive environments requires not just the continuation of the initiative, but that its principles become embedded in formal and informal organizational processes, across sectors and beyond familiar networks focused on older populations. This embedding ensures the initiative's values take root permanently in a community's institutional culture. This article argues that the sustainability of age-friendly initiatives is enhanced by "spillover" effects, in which a behavioral or policy change in one environment spurs change in another environment. Evidence for such spillover and an understanding of how and when it occurs is currently limited in the context of age-friendly environments. This article draws on the experiences of Age-Friendly Boston, which has been working toward age-friendly goals for more than 5 years. Based on Boston's experience, we identify, describe, and exemplify 3 pathways to positive spillover across environments: (a) branding positively, (b) publicizing successes, and (c) embarking on new relationships, while strengthening existing ones, in pursuit of shared goals. We also draw conclusions about what positive spillover means for the sustainability of age-friendly environments.

Ten questions concerning age-friendly cities and communities and the built environment

The development of ‘age-friendly cities’ has become a major area of work in the field of ageing and the built environment. This movement is driven by the observation that cities are home to an ever-increasing ageing population. Over the past decade, a multitude of age-friendly initiatives have been developed with the aim of making physical and social environments more favourable for older people's well-being, health and ability to live in the community. This article explores ten key questions associated with the age-friendly cities and communities' movement, with a particular focus on the built environment. It provides an overview of the history of the age-friendly cities' movement and the underlying models, the aspects of the built environment that are relevant for age-friendly cities, the ways age-friendliness can be evaluated, and the interactions between age-friendly cities initiatives and other strategic agendas such as smart cities. The paper concludes by discussing future perspectives and possible directions for further development of the age-friendly movement.

Beginning on an age-friendly journey: Barriers to implementing age-friendly initiatives.

ObjectiveTo explore the barriers to communities in New Zealand developing age‐friendly initiatives.MethodsA qualitative participatory approach underpinned this study. Semi‐structured digitally recorded individual interviews were undertaken with 24 government officials, local government steering group members and community representatives from an urban city, provincial city and a rural district. A general inductive data analytic process was undertaken. The consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines were followed to ensure rigour in this study.Results(a) Being at the beginning, (b) Minimal diversity and (c) Problems getting started were three key issues identified.ConclusionsNew Zealand is in the early stages of becoming age‐friendly. Findings from this study provide a place‐based New Zealand perspective and have influenced central government social policy and practice development, culminating in resources supporting local government and communities to successfully implement age‐friendly initiatives.

Leveraging the age friendly healthcare system initiative to achieve comprehensive, hearing healthcare across the spectrum of healthcare settings: an interprofessional perspective

Objective Hearing loss is associated with multiple physical, cognitive, and psychosocial co-morbidities. Achievement of safe healthcare in the context of these complex co-morbidities necessitates accurate hearing and coordination across specialties. This paper discusses the potentials for and barriers to an interprofessional approach to integrating hearing screening and treatment across all healthcare settings. Design The paper reviews the relationship between hearing loss and other health care concerns to emphasise the need for an inclusive, coordinated, interprofessional approach; discusses interprofessional and patient/family centred coordinated care as essential to achieving quality care; and introduces the Age Friendly Health System initiative as a framework that could be leveraged to move towards comprehensive hearing healthcare. Results The literature highlights prior work identifying gaps in quality care and the need for new and innovative approaches to evolve interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaborations to achieve comprehensive healthcare. The literature also provides support for using the Age-Friendly initiative as a point of leverage. Conclusion Bringing together thought leaders from the health care provider community, World Health Organisation, age-friendly cities movement, and field of architecture to coordinate the integration of hearing healthcare into Age Friendly Health Systems initiatives has potential to achieve comprehensive hearing healthcare across healthcare settings. (198)

Launching an Age-Friendly Community Initiative: Retrospective Insights into Early-Stage Formation

Launching an Age-Friendly Community Initiative: Retrospective Insights into Early-Stage Formation

Which Seat at the Table? The Ways That Senior Service Organizations Are Engaged in Age-Friendly Community Efforts

Senior centers across the nation continue to serve as important access and focal points for older adults to voice their desires, get basic needs met, and to engage in opportunities that support many of the key concepts of Age-Friendliness (i.e. social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic engagement, transportation, and community supports and health services). Senior centers are the front line of aging services and thus in a position to implement programs and raise public awareness about age-friendly initiatives. The purpose of this presentation is to present and discuss the involvement of senior centers or other senior service agencies, as well as to characterize the mobilization of a community after joining the movement. We will present 5 case studies of age-friendly communities who are in the implementation phase of their initiative, to illustrate the challenges, opportunities, and outcomes associated with placing a senior center at the forefront of the movement. Based on the results of this work, we will present a typology of age-friendly community initiatives as a mechanism for supporting other communities make this transition. We conclude with a discussion of how age-friendly communities are part of the paradigm shift of aging in community and the ways in which this work intersects with other health policy initiatives with which cities and towns engage.

Do Age-Friendly Community Initiatives Form a Biopolitical Paradigm?

Biopolitical paradigms are frameworks that specify how concerns about health and the body are made the simultaneous focus of biomedicine and state policy (Foucault 1984; Rose 2007). As aging and urbanization trends converge, developing “age-friendly community initiatives” (AFCIs) has become a global movement and important policy area. To prompt critical questioning, situational analysis was used as a theory-methods package to compare AFCI conceptual frames with perspectives of thirteen AFCI experts and seventeen older San Franciscans. Preliminary analysis suggests AFCIs form a biopolitical paradigm because they not only seek to rework boundaries between bodies and environments, they operate as modes of individual and population governance for the sake of health; yet, struggle to find ways to preserve the inclusion of older people in the ongoing social system. Understanding how AFCIs place social and physical environments squarely in view within the biomedical arena of the gerontological gaze has theoretical and policy implications.