How is Respect and Social Inclusion Conceptualised by Older Adults in an Aspiring Age-Friendly City? A Photovoice Study in the North-West of England

From Sheltered in Place to Thriving in Place: Pandemic Places of Aging

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic required rapid changes to physical, social, and technological environments. There is a need to understand how independent-living older adults are adapting to pandemic-borne transformations of place and how environmental factors may shape experiences of aging well in the context of a public health emergency response.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a photovoice study to examine the characteristics associated with aging in place. Our study investigated how independent-living older adults characterized aging in a "right" place approximately 1 year after the onset of the pandemic.

RESULTS

Six themes categorized into 2 groups capture how older adults describe a "right" place to age. The first category, "places as enactors of identity and belonging," describes the significance of places contributing to intimate relationships, social connections, and a sense of personal continuity. The second category, "places as facilitators of activities and values," recognizes environments that promote health, hobbies, goals, and belief systems. Participants reported modifying their daily living environments with increased use of technology and more time outdoors.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Our findings emphasize older adults' active engagement with place and strategies used to maintain healthy aging despite public health restrictions. The results also identify place-based characteristics that may help overcome stressful circumstances from older adults' perspectives. These findings inform pathways to pursue to facilitate resiliency for aging in place.

Older people perceptions on the built environment: A scoping review

As the world ages, the built environment requires special attention to assist this growing part of society and therefore the update of urban design guidelines and urban policies is required. The goal of this study is to provide an overview of existing literature regarding emotions and perceptions from older people related to the outdoor built environment. A scoping review was performed using empirical studies in 12 scientific databases in a fourteen-year period (2007-2021) involving people at least 60 years old and outdoor built environment perceptions. Collected evidence identified 52 papers following the PRISMA procedure. Studies reported basic emotions (e.g., fear, joy) and space perceptions (e.g., walkability, accessibility) regarding the outdoor built environment as sidewalks, streets, and greenery. Our study reinforces the importance of analyzing older people perceptions regarding the outdoor built environment so that architects, urban planners, and decision makers have information to design solutions that fit older people needs.

Neighbourhood environmental influences on older adults' physical activities and social participation in Singapore: A photovoice study

Physical activities and social participation have vast health benefits for older adults and are also known to influence each other in everyday lives of older adults. In the quest for healthy ageing in place, it is vital to investigate the role of neighbourhood environmental factors in maintaining and/or initiating physical activities and social participation in older adults. Using the photovoice method, this qualitative research aims to examine how the physical and social neighbourhood environment influences physical activities, social participation, and instances where they occur together among 30 older adults in three Singapore neighbourhoods. A thematic analysis of 820 photographs, their descriptions, and 21 semi-structured individual and group interviews reveals that participants' physical activities and social participation are influenced by neighbourhood features during everyday movements (themes related to walking trips and resting places), and at destination nodes (themes on destinations and events where people often met and/or accessed amenities and services). Environmental qualities grounded in the local context affect older adults' outdoor activities. Physical activities and social participation in older adults may be planned or spontaneous, occurring independently, simultaneously or one after another in supportive neighbourhood environments.

The Role of Urban Environments in Promoting Active and Healthy Aging: A Systematic Scoping Review of Citizen Science Approaches

Promoting active and healthy aging in urban spaces requires environments with diverse, age-friendly characteristics. This scoping review investigated the associations between urban characteristics and active and healthy aging as identified by citizen science (CS) and other participatory approaches. Using a systematic scoping review procedure, 23 articles employing a CS or participatory approach (participant age range: 54-98 years) were reviewed. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was completed to (a) identify local urban barriers and facilitators and (b) map them against the World Health Organization (WHO) Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities. A new Citizen Science Appraisal Tool (CSAT) was developed to evaluate the quality of CS and other participatory approaches included in the reviewed articles. A range of interconnected urban barriers and facilitators was generated by residents across the personal (e.g. perceived safety), environmental (e.g. unmaintained infrastructure), socio-cultural (e.g. cross-cultural activities), economic (e.g. affordable housing) and political (e.g. governmental support to migrant communities) domains. Mapping the barriers and facilitators to the WHO age-friendly checklist underscored the checklist's relevance and elucidated the need to explore barriers for migrant and cross-cultural communities and neighborhood development and alterations. The CSAT demonstrated strengths related to active engagement of residents and study outcomes leading to real-world implications. To advance the potential of CS to enrich our understanding of age-friendly environments, employing co-production to enhance relevance and sustainability of outcomes is an important strategy. Overall, employing CS highlighted the value of systematically capturing the experiences of older adults within studies aimed at promoting active and healthy aging.

Respect in the Eyes of Non-Urban Elders: Using Qualitative Interviews to Distinguish Community Elders' Perspective of Respect in General and Healthcare Services

This study aimed to describe the connotation of respect for community elders in daily situations, and discuss the elderly's views on respect for healthcare services. A qualitative research design was conducted to interview elders from a non-urban area in Changhua, Taiwan. Study sites were Lukang and Ershui. A total of 52 people were interviewed, with an average age of 75 years old. Based on Grounded theory, the thematic analysis method was used to analyze data. This study found that respect from the perspective of the elderly can be divided into three categories: (1) verbal expression, (2) non-verbal behavior, and (3) behavior combined with appropriate language. We found that elders use the performance of healthcare service providers to discuss respect in the field of healthcare services. Respect can also be shown in the physical environment in healthcare settings. This study found that, for the community elders, respect is an individual's subjective feelings regarding the process of interpersonal interaction. Compared to daily life, the respect of the elderly for the healthcare setting has increased the element of the environment. In addition, it was found that elderly people have lower expectations and requirements for respect in healthcare settings.