Characterization, Creativity, Leadership, and Search for Solutions to Improve the Lifestyles of Earlier Elderly People in Rural Areas

Social innovation in aging needs to bring new ideas and services to meet new social and welfare needs identified in recent years. In our environment, people ≥60 years old accounted for 20% -24% of the population in 2015, and it is expected to increase to ≥30% by 2050. For the first time in history, most people can aspire to live well beyond the age of 60. On the other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected people ≥60 years of age, and may make the welfare and health problems of this population more evident, such as unhealthy lifestyles, the risk of malnutrition, and sarcopenia (defined as loss of muscle mass, strength, and function), which leads to significant dependency and quality of life problems. In addition, older people living in rural areas have been severely affected by confinement, and new needs are being generated. To better understand the needs, an innovative element of this project is to involve the elderly-young people (60-74 years) from rural areas in the generation of solutions, which will make these solutions especially adapted to their needs. Therefore increase the adherence to the solutions created, and also the long-term sustainability of the solutions. It also aims to study the effectiveness of a health education intervention based on participatory research, where young seniors co-create and implement the intervention among their peers, and focused on improving lifestyles, to prevent or to improve sarcopenia.

The objectives of this project are: To characterize the elderly (60 to 74 years) who live independently in rural areas of the province of Tarragona, to actively involve them, through a process of participatory research to generate solutions.

To achieve this goal, it is proposed to make a diagnosis of their health status (lifestyles, risk of malnutrition and sarcopenia), and conduct group interviews (focus groups) including earlier elderly people from rural areas, and the sectors involved, to determine their needs, interests, and barriers to pursuing healthy lifestyles. Based on the information obtained in the diagnosis and group interviews, there will be processes for co-creating solutions based on proposed activities or changes in their immediate environment. During the co-creation process, the elderly and the sectors involved in the 4-helix (government, industry, university, and civil society) will be involved. In addition, participants will receive the intervention co-created by themselves, and the effectiveness of the intervention created will be evaluated.