| Popis: |
Frail older adults can continue to live independently at home in cities that are age-friendly. The purpose of the present participatory action research is to identify the core concerns for building an age friendly city through community diagnosis involving volunteers and professionals, utilizing photovoice and surveys. The surveys were conducted previously and investigated the care needs of 710 frail older adults living in Izumiotsu City, Japan. The study participants were 39 local volunteers living in three districts in the city including districts A (population = 7,984; % of adults ≥ 65 years = 21.0%), B (5,994; 18.5%), and C (6,712; 24.3%), and 8 care professionals in a community-based integrated center. We conducted four sessions of focus group interviews with local volunteers and care professionals, using 248 pictures from care professionals and 56 pictures from local volunteers, as well as survey data. Through the focus group interviews, we identified the core concerns from the community diagnosis of each district, which included “Older adults, at risk of social isolation, are not participating in community activity groups (district A);” “Older adults, who cannot ride a bicycle, find it difficult to go shopping as shopping facilities are scattered (district B);” and “Frail older adults living alone are more likely to be isolated because they do not want contact with community residents district C).” These results suggest that a community diagnosis, through focus group interviews with local volunteers and care professionals utilizing photovoice and surveys, could capture distinctive core concerns for developing age-friendly initiatives. |
