Healthy ageing in a deprived northern UK city: A co-creation study

Glover, Lesley; Dyson, Judith; Cowdell, Fiona; Kinsey, Debbie

Abstract

Abstract
With ageing comes an increased risk of poor health and social isolation, particularly in poorer populations. Older people are under-represented in research and as a result interventions may not take account of their context or barriers to participation. In co-creative work future service users work with professionals on an equal basis to design, develop and produce a service or intervention. Our objectives were to i) undertake a co-creation study with older people living in a northern city in the United Kingdom, ii) explore maintenance of health and wellbeing in older age, iii) explore the application of co-creation with an older community population and iv) evaluate the process and inform future work. The study was conducted during 2017 by a project team of ten lay community dwelling older people and four university researchers. Findings demonstrate that state of mind and of health were key to wellbeing in older age. Feeling safe, comfortable and pain free were important along with being able to adapt to change, have choice and a sense of personal freedom. Social connectedness was seen as the keystone to supporting healthy behaviours. Rather than developing new interventions, there was a perceived need to connect people with existing resources and provide a human “bridge” to address barriers to accessing these. In conclusion, the co-creation process proved productive, even when undertaken on a small scale. The scope of the project needs to be realistic, to use diverse methods of recruitment and skilled facilitators, and to prepare well in terms of accessibility, simple systems and appropriate information provision.

Citation

Glover, L., Dyson, J., Cowdell, F., & Kinsey, D. (2020). Healthy ageing in a deprived northern UK city: A co-creation study. Health and Social Care in the Community, 28(6), 2233-2242. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13036

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 29, 2020
• Online Publication Date: May 22, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Deposit Date: Jul 20, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 23, 2021
• Journal: Health and Social Care in the Community
• Print ISSN: 0966-0410
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 2233-2242
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13036
• Keywords: Co-creation; Older people; Healthy ageing; Wellbeing; Loneliness; Social isolation
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3512486
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hsc.13036
• Additional Information: Received: 2019-10-22; Accepted: 2020-04-29; Published: 2020-05-22