Abstract
Active aging concerns the optimisation of opportunities for health, social participation and security of people as they age. It is a multidimensional concept including a wide range of activities (e.g. labor market participation, volunteering, social relations, education, leisure, healthy lifestyles) that contribute to individual well-being for all aging individuals. Limited research exists on understanding, from a multilevel perspective, how active aging policies are designed for each domain and how they evolved in recent years. Particularly, the COVID-19 pandemic posed a great challenge for the health and care sector of all countries worldwide. This study identifies what the national and regional active aging policies focused on health and care in Italy were, and whether the pandemic impacted them. Within the scope of a broader national research project, we conducted a systematic review of national and regional policies in two waves (2019 and 2021) by means of 86 interviews and document search covering 14 national administrations and 21 regional governments. An inductive thematic analysis was carried out in order to review, select and compare themes from selected policies. The analysis identified three similar themes at national and regional level (health promotion and disease prevention, health monitoring, and informal caregivers). Two additional themes were found at the regional level (access to health and social care services, and mental health and well-being). The findings indicate that the pandemic impacted the agenda setting and stimulated some evolution of policy making on active aging in Italy.
Presenters
Francesco BarbabellaResearch Fellow, Centre for Socio-Economic Research on Ageing, IRCCS INRCA, Italy Andrea Principi
IRCCS INRCA, Italy Giovanni Lamura
Researcher, INRCA (IRCCS) - National Institute of Health and Science on Ageing Valerio Intraligi
Research Fellow, INRCA - IRCCS, Italy Marco Socci
IRCCS INRCA, Italy Davide Lucantoni
Research Assistant, Centre for Socio-economic Research on Ageing , IRCCS-INRCA, Ancona, Italy
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Active Aging, Health, Care, Italy, Policy, COVID-19
