Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:31:26.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constructing and negotiating social participation in old age: experiences of older adults living in urban environments in the United Kingdom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2019

Ryan Woolrych Open the ORCID record for Ryan Woolrych [Opens in a new window] ,
Judith Sixsmith ,
Jenny Fisher Open the ORCID record for Jenny Fisher [Opens in a new window] ,
Meiko Makita ,
Rebecca Lawthom  and
Michael Murray
Ryan Woolrych*
Affiliation:
The Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Judith Sixsmith
Affiliation:
School of Nursing and Health Science, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
Jenny Fisher
Affiliation:
Department of Social Care and Social Work, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Meiko Makita
Affiliation:
The Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Rebecca Lawthom
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Michael Murray
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Keele University, Keele, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: r.d.woolrych@hw.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The age-friendly cities and communities movement has focused on how to better support older adults to age well within urban environments. Central to ‘ageing well’ and ‘active ageing’ agendas is ensuring that older adults can participate in meaningful forms of social participation. The benefits of social participation in old age have been well documented, and research amongst community-dwelling older adults has explored some of the neighbourhood qualities that facilitate or impede such forms of engagement. However, understandings of how older adults construct and negotiate social participation within everyday urban environments have been largely unexplored. To address this gap, we present results from 104 interviews conducted with older adults living in three cities and nine neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom (UK). The findings explore three themes generated from the research: ‘constructing meaningful social participation in old age’, ‘negotiating access to social participation’ and ‘navigating home and community’. Across these themes, the paper describes how experiences of social participation in old age involve a number of inter-connected physical, psychological and social processes experienced by individuals across a range of environmental settings including the home, outdoor spaces and community facilities. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for practice, specifically in the delivery of age-friendly communities.

Keywords

social participationage-friendly communitiesneighbourhoodolder people
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Special Issue 6: New Frontiers in International Retirement Migration , June 2021 , pp. 1398 - 1420
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aartsen, M and Jylhä, M (2011) Onset of loneliness in older adults: results of a 28 year prospective study. European Journal of Ageing 8, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adkins, L (2005) Introduction, context and background. In Adkins, L and Skeggs, B (eds), Feminism After Bourdieu. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, p. 268.Google Scholar
Barnes, M (2012) Care in Everyday Life. An Ethic of Care in Practice. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Bookman, A (2004) Starting in Our Own Backyards: How Working Families Can Build Community and Survive the New Economy. London: Taylor & Francis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, S (2011) Friendship, co-presence and care: neglected spaces. Social & Cultural Geography 12, 605–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowling, A and Stafford, M (2007) How do objective and subjective assessments of neighbourhood influence social and physical functioning in older age? Findings from a British survey of ageing. Social Science & Medicine 64, 2533–2549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buffel, T, De Donder, L, Phillipson, C, Dury, S, De Witte, N and Verté, D (2014) Social participation among older adults living in medium-sized cities in Belgium: the role of neighbourhood perceptions. Health Promotion International 29, 655–668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buffel, T, Phillipson, C and Scharf, T (2013) Experiences of neighbourhood exclusion and inclusion among older people living in deprived inner-city areas in Belgium and England. Ageing & Society 33, 89–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bukov, A, Maas, I and Lampert, T (2002) Social participation in very old age: cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from BASE. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 57B, 510–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, JS (1994) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cummins, S, Stafford, M, Macintyre, S, Marmot, M and Ellaway, A (2005) Neighbourhood environment and its association with self rated health: evidence from Scotland and England. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 59, 207–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fisher, J, Lawthom, R, Hartley, S, Koivunen, E and Yeowell, G (2018) Evaluation of Men in Sheds for Age UK Cheshire. Final Report. Manchester, UK: Manchester Metropolitan University, Age UK Cheshire.Google Scholar
Forrest, R and Kearns, A (2001) Social cohesion, social capital and the neighbourhood. Urban Studies 38, 2125–2143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glass, TA and Balfour, JL (2003) Neighborhoods, aging, and functional limitations. In Kawachi, I and Berkman, LF (eds), Neighborhoods and Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 303–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glass, TA, de Leon, CM, Marottoli, RA and Berkman, LF (1999) Population based study of social and productive activities as predictors of survival among elderly Americans. BMJ 319, 478–483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golant, SM (2015) Aging in the Right Place. Baltimore, MD: HPP, Health Professions Press.Google Scholar
Goll, JC, Charlesworth, G, Scior, K and Stott, J (2015) Barriers to social participation among lonely older adults: the influence of social fears and identity. PLOS ONE 10, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gubrium, JF (1972) Toward a socio-environmental theory of aging 1. The Gerontologist 12, 281–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendricks, J and Cutler, SJ (2001) The effects of membership in church-related associations and labor unions on age differences in voluntary association affiliations. The Gerontologist 41, 250–256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohli, M, Hank, K and Künemund, H (2009) The social connectedness of older Europeans: patterns, dynamics and contexts. Journal of European Social Policy 19, 327–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, N (2003) Neighborhoods, health, and well-being in late life. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics 23, 223–249.Google Scholar
Levasseur, M, Gauvin, L, Richard, L, Kestens, Y, Daniel, M and Payette, H (2011) Associations between perceived proximity to neighborhood resources, disability, and social participation among community-dwelling older adults: results from the VoisiNuAge study. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 92, 1979–1986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levasseur, M, Richard, L, Gauvin, L and Raymond, É (2010) Inventory and analysis of definitions of social participation found in the aging literature: proposed taxonomy of social activities. Social Science & Medicine 71, 2141–2149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lui, C-W, Everingham, J-A, Warburton, J, Cuthill, M and Bartlett, H (2009) What makes a community age-friendly: a review of international literature. Australasian Journal on Ageing 28, 116–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Means, R (2007) Safe as houses? Ageing in place and vulnerable older people in the UK. Social Policy & Administration 41, 65–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newall, NE, Chipperfield, JG, Clifton, RA, Perry, RP, Swift, AU and Ruthig, JC (2009) Causal beliefs, social participation, and loneliness among older adults: a longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 26, 273–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oldenburg, R (1998) The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C (2004) Urbanisation and ageing: towards a new environmental gerontology. Ageing & Society 24, 963–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulsen, T, Christensen, U, Lund, R and Avlund, K (2011) Measuring aspects of social capital in a gerontological perspective. European Journal of Ageing 8, 221–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, RD (2000) Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. In Crothers, L and Lockhart, C (eds), Culture and Politics: A Reader. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 223–234.Google Scholar
Richard, L, Gauvin, L, Gosselin, C and Laforest, S (2009) Staying connected: neighbourhood correlates of social participation among older adults living in an urban environment in Montreal, Quebec. Health Promotion International 24, 46–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rozanova, J, Keating, N and Eales, J (2012) Unequal social engagement for older adults: constraints on choice. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement 31, 25–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scharf, T and de Jong Gierveld, J (2008) Loneliness in urban neighbourhoods: an Anglo-Dutch comparison. European Journal of Ageing 5, 103–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scharf, T, Phillipson, C and Smith, AE (2005) Social exclusion of older people in deprived urban communities of England. European Journal of Ageing 2, 76–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sirven, N and Debrand, T (2008) Social participation and healthy ageing: an international comparison using SHARE data. Social Science & Medicine (1982) 67, 2017–2026.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sixsmith, J and Boneham, M (2004) Narrating women's health identities in the context of community living. In Robson, D, Horrocks, C, Kelly, N and Roberts, B (eds), Narrative, Memory and Identity: Theoretical and Methodological Issues. Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield Press, pp. 233–246.Google Scholar
Sixsmith, A and Sixsmith, J (2008) Ageing in place in the United Kingdom. Ageing International 32, 219–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sixsmith, J, Fang, ML, Woolrych, R, Canham, SL, Battersby, L and Sixsmith, A (2017) Ageing well in the right place: partnership working with older people. Working with Older People 21, 40–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sixsmith, J, Sixsmith, A, Fange, AM, Naumann, D, Kucsera, C, Tomsone, S, Haak, M, Dahlin-Ivanoff, S and Woolrych, R (2014) Healthy ageing and home: the perspectives of very old people in five European countries. Social Science & Medicine 106, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Syed, MA, McDonald, L, Smirle, C, Lau, K, Mirza, RM and Hitzig, SL (2017) Social isolation in Chinese older adults: scoping review for age-friendly community planning. Canadian Journal on Aging/La Revue Canadienne du Vieillissement 36, 223–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szreter, S and Woolcock, M (2004) Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health. International Journal of Epidemiology 33, 650–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, K, Scharf, T and Keating, N (2017) Social exclusion of older persons: a scoping review and conceptual framework. European Journal of Ageing 14, 81–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wenger, E (1999) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wiles, JL, Leibing, A, Guberman, N, Reeve, J and Allen, RES (2012) The meaning of ‘aging in place’ to older people. The Gerontologist 52, 357–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO) (1999) Health 21. The Health for All Policy Framework for the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO) (2002) Active Ageing. A Policy Framework. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (WHO) (2007) Global Age-friendly Cities: A Guide. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar