Does the Village model help to foster age-friendly communities?

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Community Health
• Social Gerontology

Background:

• The concept of age-friendly communities is gaining global recognition, driven by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.
• Social initiatives like the Village model, focusing on member engagement and service access, present a potential avenue for fostering age-friendliness at the community level.
• Understanding the extent to which these models contribute to broader age-friendly goals is crucial for developing effective aging-in-place strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the role of the Village model in promoting age-friendly community characteristics.
• To assess the alignment of Village activities with the WHO's eight domains of age-friendliness.
• To explore the potential of Villages to contribute to community-level improvements in infrastructure and attitudes towards older adults.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted among operational Villages, achieving an 86.3% response rate.
• The survey examined Village activities related to member support and service access, comparing them against the WHO's age-friendly domains.
• Analysis included evaluating direct and indirect contributions to community physical and social infrastructures and attitudes.

Main Results:

• 85.5% of surveyed Villages assisted members with at least six of the eight WHO age-friendly domains.
• Only 10.1% of Villages implemented features across all eight WHO domains.
• Over one-third of Villages engaged in efforts to improve community infrastructure or attitudes towards older persons.

Conclusions:

• The Village model demonstrates significant potential in enhancing members' ability to age in place, aligning with age-friendly initiative goals.
• Villages can contribute to broader community age-friendliness through infrastructure and attitudinal improvements.
• There is untapped potential for social organizations like Villages to foster both individual and community-level age-friendliness.