The Importance of Social Connectedness in Building Age-Friendly Communities

TLDR

The study aims to clarify how social connectedness supports aging in place and to identify factors that keep boomers in their communities. Researchers conducted a World Café forum with adults aged 40 and older to gather community perspectives on social connectedness in elder‑friendly settings. Qualitative analysis revealed that social reciprocity, meaningful interactions, and structural needs/barriers are key themes underscoring the importance of social connectedness for elder‑friendly communities and supporting the use of World Café methods.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to further elucidate the importance of social relationships and social connectedness with aging in place and in developing elder-friendly communities. The process used in this study was inclusive of younger adults (age 40–65) as well as older adults (65+) in order to further understand how they envision a community that could support their own aging in place. A community forum, using the World Café format, was conducted in order to engage community members, 40 years and older, in conversation about the importance of social connectedness in elder-friendly communities. A second purpose of this forum was to obtain data on what would keep aging boomers in their community as they age. Three major themes emerged from qualitative analysis of the forum: social reciprocity , meaningful interactions , and structural needs/barriers . The results of this study reinforce the importance of social connectedness in creating and maintaining elder-friendly communities for older adults, as well as soon-to-be retired individuals, wishing to maintain life connectedness to their community. The study suggests the possibility of using more nontraditional research techniques (such as the World Café process) for gathering community level data.