Exploring the Implementation Functions of Older Adults' Participation in Age-Friendly Community Initiatives

Background and Purpose: Older adults have long been considered critical actors in age-friendly community (AFC) initiatives—participatory change efforts that seek to make communities more supportive and responsive to aging. Research has demonstrated that older adults participate in AFC initiatives as beneficiaries, informants, administrators, and co-producers of research and community assessments. However, there has been limited empirical research into the specific ways older adults operate as implementation leaders of these community-level interventions in the United States (U.S.).

Guided by implementation science concepts, this study explores the functions older adults exhibit in AFC implementation—namely, the underlying purposes and processes operating through older adults’ implementation actions.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 23 older adult leaders of AFC initiatives across four states in the United States, making this study one of the few explorations of AFC implementation from the perspectives of older adults. A nested sampling strategy was used to identify eligible AFC initiatives in four U.S. states (New Jersey, Maine, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania) representing different organizational structures and geographies wherein participants were recruited via email outreach facilitated by known sponsors.

On average, participants were age 75 and involved in AFC work for five years. The majority identified as female and White, with graduate degrees. They represented 15 initiatives in moderate-sized cities and suburban/rural communities.

The research team analyzed the interviews using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, a six-step analytic process spanning iterative coding phases.

Findings: We identified two overarching thematic categories of the functions operating within older adults’ AFC implementation activities. First, older adults advanced AFC program processes by guiding and carrying out the work. This theme referred to activities related to the purpose of administering the core elements of AFC initiatives (e.g., conducting a community assessment and developing an action plan). Guiding the work involved identifying strategic priorities and advancing long-term planning. Carrying out the work consisted of time-limited and routine activities.

Second, older adults built network capacity by connecting people and organizations and spreading aging-inclusive practices and mindsets. The purpose of building network capacity referred to the participants’ work to expand and strengthen the relational connectivity of the AFC initiative. The process of connecting involved participants leveraging relationships to link community actors and community resources on aging. With the spreading process, participants encouraged other individuals, AFC initiatives, and communities to adopt age-friendly actions and attitudes.

Conclusions and Implications: This study offers implications for enhancing the implementation of AFC initiatives generally and the efforts of older adults in particular. The findings suggest that older adult AFC participation can be understood as a multi-dimensional practice wherein they employ co-occurring functions dynamically across organizational roles, activities, and tenure. Findings also speak to a broader community practice modality organizing AFC efforts, such that the findings support conceptualizing older adult AFC participation, and the AFC initiatives more broadly, as exhibiting a blend of community-building and social-planning social change approaches. In so doing, findings support the positioning of AFC initiatives as a 21st-century development extending the realm of social work macro research and practice.