Developing an indicator for community-level age-friendly communities: the Japan gerontological evaluation study.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Community Development

Background:

• Age-friendly communities (AFCs) aim to foster inclusivity for older adults.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes dementia considerations in AFCs, yet few indicators address this.
• This study addresses the need for a community-level indicator integrating dementia-friendly aspects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a community-level indicator for age-friendly communities (AFCs).
• To incorporate dementia-friendly elements into the AFC indicator based on WHO guidelines.
• To test the validity and reliability of the developed indicator.

Main Methods:

• A repeated cross-sectional design using 2016 and 2019 Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) data.
• Item selection based on WHO guidelines and prior research on dementia-friendly communities (DFCs), followed by expert consultation.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) for structure validation, and reliability testing.

Main Results:

• A 17-item indicator was finalized, featuring three subscales: Social inclusion and dementia-friendliness, Social engagement and communication, and Age-friendly physical environment.
• Internal consistency for subscales ranged from α=0.78 to 0.86.
• Adequate test-retest reliability was observed (r=0.71-0.79; ICC=0.67-0.78), despite unsatisfactory CFA model fit.

Conclusions:

• A valid and reliable 17-item community-level indicator, incorporating dementia-friendly elements aligned with WHO, was successfully developed.
• This indicator serves as a valuable tool for monitoring, evaluation, and comparison in developing AFCs and DFCs, particularly in aging societies.
• The indicator is adaptable for use in other high-income countries with similar societal structures and healthcare systems.