Planning and Practice
An Innovative Consumer-driven Social Support Model for Community-dwelling Older Adults: Neighborhood-Based "Village" Membership Organizations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrew E. Scharlach
This paper describes the “Village” model, a consumer-driven social support model that has achieved substantial attention in the United States for its potential role in promoting aging in place through a combination of peer support, volunteer-based service provision, care coordination, and social engagement. There are currently more than 200 neighborhood-based village organizations in the US, with the number of these organizations doubling every few years. The vast majority are self-governing, independent membership associations, providing an innovative way to marshal the physical, social, and economic resources of community-dwelling older adults on behalf of their elderly neighbors, and themselves. Drawing upon data from a ten-year program of research with nearly 2,000 Village members in the United States, this study examines the development and impact of the village model to date, and its potential relevance for emerging concepts of “aging-in-place” and “aging-in-community.” Repeated measures analyses of Village members over time show statistically significant increases in respondents’ perceived ability to obtain needed assistance and age in place, accompanied by significant reductions in the need for home modifications and in the likelihood of relocating, but less direct impact on member social engagement or health care costs. Despite their consumer-driven approach, however, Villages are highly dependent on external resources, posing potential risks to organizational sustainability. The paper concludes by considering potential implications for consumer-driven aging services in the US and in other countries.
Intersection of Research, Policy, and Practice in Promoting Age-friendly Housing View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kathy Black
Population aging impacts all facets of society including the spaces in which we reside. As people age, a myriad of circumstances can affect the ability to manage at home as well as our mobility to access necessary goods and services. Across the world, innovative housing is emerging to better meet the needs and preferences of a growing aging citizenry. In 2010, the WHO initiated a broad-scale movement to enhance the age-friendliness of communities by focusing efforts on core features of our environment including housing. This study utilized multiple methods of inquiry to examine older adults’ perceptions (n = 1,172) on the importance of housing by generational age including Baby Boomers (i.e. persons born between 1946 -1964) and non-Boomer older adults (i.e. persons born 1945 or earlier) in an American age-friendly community in which more than half of its residents are age 50 or older. Building upon our survey and focus group findings, we further aligned efforts with other community partners to create a municipal resolution to promote universal design in new construction.
Evaluation of a Social Connection Toolkit for Residential Aged Care
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jasmine Knox
We present results from evaluating a toolkit (e-learning, guide, and questions) for residential aged care (RAC) staff to have conversations and collect data about resident social connection. Codesigned with staff and residents, the toolkit is designed to facilitate conversations between staff and residents and drive personalised social care planning. Globally, social isolation and loneliness in older age is a societal concern. Across RAC, people are often uprooted from their former communities and located in institutions where biomedical health is prioritised over social and emotional wellbeing. With social care planning tending to consist of a ‘one size fits all’ approach, there is an urgent need for robust social connection tools that collect useful data to enable and support resident social connection. We evaluated toolkit implementation at 4 RAC settings in 2024, using repeated wellbeing and satisfaction surveys with 86 residents, and repeated satisfaction surveys with 29 staff. Sixteen residents and 16 staff were interviewed. Quantitative and qualitative analysis evaluates changes over time. The paper covers quantitative changes over time for: i) residents’ rapport with staff, control, being listened to, well-being and social connectedness and ii) staff: rapport with residents, knowledge about and comfort discussing, social connection, and understanding of residents’ needs. Implications: This is the first Australian study evaluating tools to enable social connection in RAC. The Toolkit is innovative and efficient in addressing social connection to support resident physical and mental health.
