Age-friendly cities in the Netherlands: An explorative study of facilitators and hindrances in the built environment and ageism in design

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In the Netherlands, there is an increasing need for collective forms of housing for older people. Such housing bridges the gap between the extremes of living in an institutionalised setting and remaining in their own house. The demand is related to the closure of many residential care homes and the need for social engagement with other residents. This study focuses on housing initiatives that offer innovative and alternative forms of independent living, which deviate from mainstream housing arrangements. It draws on recent literature on healthcare ‘rebels’ and further develops the concept of ‘rebellion’ in the context of housing. The main research question is how founders dealt with challenges of establishing and governing ‘rebellious’ innovative living arrangements for older people in the highly regulated context of housing and care in the Netherlands. Qualitative in-depth interviews with 17 founders (social entrepreneurs, directors and supervisory board members) were conducted. Founders encountered various obstacles that are often related to governmental and sectoral rules and regulations. Their stories demonstrate the opportunities and constraints of innovative entrepreneurship at the intersection of housing and care. The study concludes with the notion of ‘responsible rebellion’ and practical lessons about dealing with rules and regulations and creating supportive contexts.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Responsible Rebellion: How Founders Deal with Challenges in Establishing and Governing Innovative Living Arrangements for Older People

Rusinovic

Bochove

Koops-Boelaars

et al. 2020

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“…The features of this checklist, therefore, formed the foundation of the items for this questionnaire, as well as the WHO documents from 2015 and 2018 [ 12 , 16 ]. The study by Marston and van Hoof [ 18 ] on the importance of technology in age-friendly cities (and their age-friendly ecosystem framework), which was further demonstrated for the context of the municipality of The Hague by van Hoof et al [ 19 ], was used as the basis for additional questions on technology in the daily lives of older people. The research report by Bottenheft et al [ 30 ] on The Hague as an age-friendly city was used to come up with additional questions that pertain to the Dutch context of city planning, housing, transport and the system of healthcare.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Qualitative approaches have tried to measure and assess the age-friendliness of a city, for instance, through photoproduction [ 19 ] and photovoice [ 20 ] methods, or through citizen science programs of research [ 21 , 22 ]. Various researchers have tried to come up with a more quantitative approach to measure the age-friendliness, often taking the Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities [ 15 ] as a basis for their work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Older People Experience the Age-Friendliness of Their City: Development of the Age-Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire

Dikken

Hoven

Staalduinen³

et al. 2020

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The World Health Organization engages cities and communities all over the world in becoming age-friendly. There is a need for assessing the age-friendliness of cities and communities by means of a transparently constructed and validated tool which measures the construct as a whole. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire measuring age-friendliness, providing full transparency and reproducibility. The development and validation of the Age Friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ) followed the criteria of the COnsensus-based Standards for selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN). Four phases were followed: (1) development of the conceptual model, themes and items; (2) initial (qualitative) validation; (3) psychometric validation, and (4) translating the instrument using the forward-backward translation method. This rigorous process of development and validation resulted in a valid, psychometrically sound, comprehensive 23-item questionnaire. This questionnaire can be used to measure older people’s experiences regarding the eight domains of the WHO Age-Friendly Cities model, and an additional financial domain. The AFCCQ allows practitioners and researchers to capture the age-friendliness of a city or community in a numerical fashion, which helps monitor the age-friendliness and the potential impact of policies or social programmes. The AFCCQ was created in Dutch and translated into British-English.

“…Age-friendly ecosystems relate to all citizens in society, and this includes dependent adults, careers, and children diagnosed with disabilities. Given the numerous technologies available at present and used by citizens, it is important to explore how such technologies can be used and deployed inside and outside of the home and across different communities in order to benefit the citizens in the respective age-friendly communities [47][48][49]. Whilst this framework was published by the World Health Organization in 2007 prior to significant technological developments, such technologies have been embraced by many citizens in their day-to-day lives and it illustrates the capabilities, forward thinking, and planning of existing and future ageing cohorts.…”

Section: Study Flaws and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Life Framework for Personalised Ageing: A Systematic Review of ICT Solutions

Baraković

Husić

Hoof

et al. 2020

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Given the growing number of older people, society as a whole should ideally provide a higher quality of life (QoL) for its ageing citizens through the concept of personalised ageing. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are subject to constant and rapid development, and can contribute to the goal of an improved QoL for older adults. In order to utilise future ICT solutions as a part of an age-friendly smart environment that helps achieve personalised ageing with an increased QoL, one must first determine whether the existing ICT solutions are satisfying the needs of older people. In order to accomplish that, this study contributes in three ways. First, it proposes a framework for the QoL of older adults, in order to provide a systematic review of the state-of-the-art literature and patents in this field. The second contribution is the finding that selected ICT solutions covered by articles and patents are intended for older adults and are validated by them. The third contribution of the study are the six recommendations that are derived from the review of the literature and the patents which would help move the agenda concerning the QoL of older people and personalised ageing with the use of ICT solutions forward.