AbstractBackgroundAs the population of older adults is increasing, the number of older adults exposed to vulnerability of social isolation is also growing. It has been reported that maintaining regular level of social participation in old age is closely related to health, well‐being and cognitive benefits. Previous studies on factors that affect older adults’ social participation have mainly focused on logistical barriers. However logistical barrier alone is not sufficient to understand the factors of older adults’ social participation. The purpose of this study is to systematically examine the facilitators and barriers of older adults’ social participation, and to present basic data that comprehensively consider the individual, environmental and social contexts to promote the older adults’ social participation.MethodThrough PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, data from 2012 to 2022 was collected. The main keyword search terms were ‘elderly’, ‘older adults’, social participation’, ‘engagement’, ‘motiv*’, ‘barrier’, ‘facilitat*’. 7 articles that satisfy the inclusion criteria were selected for analysis.ResultIn the results, the activities the older adults are participating were related to religious activities, volunteering, socilaizing, leisure and ICT. The factors promoting and hindering social pariticpation of the older adults were analyzed. The analyzed factors were assorted into ‘personal/ internal factors’, ‘environmental facotrs’, ‘social network factors’. Facilitators included the desire for belongness, the desire to give back to society, interest, and interaction with a special person. Barriers included environmental accessibility, uniteresting activities, fear, lack of ability to maintain social relationships, and economic difficulties. Factors that either facilitated or hindered social participation included socioeconomic status, infrastructure accessibility, presense of supporters, religion and ethnicity. The results of this study emphasize that not only logistical factors, but also motivation, desire, social context of older adults’ can promote or inhibit their social participation.ConclusionAs ageing population increases, the number of older adults who are vulnerable to social isolation is also increasing. To prevent this, a broad understanding of what promotes and inhibits the participation of the older adults is needed. In this study, facilitators and barriers of older adults social participation were comprehensively identified.