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Relevance of community structures and neighbourhood characteristics for participation of older adults: a qualitative study

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Abstract

Purpose

Community and neighbourhood structures contribute not only to the health and well-being, but also to the participation of older adults. The degree of participation depends on both the living environment and the individual’s personal characteristics, preferences and perception. However, there is still limited empirical evidence on how community and neighbourhood structures are linked to participation and health in the aged population.

Methods

A qualitative exploratory approach was chosen with a series of problem-centred, semi-structured focus group discussions. Study participants were selected from within the city of Augsburg, Southern Germany, and from two municipalities in surrounding rural districts. The interviews took place in 2013. Structuring content analysis was used to identify key concepts.

Results

We conducted 11 focus group discussions with a total of 78 different study participants. The study participants (33 men and 45 women) had a mean age of 74 years (range 65–92 years). Only two study participants lived in an assisted living facility. Of all study participants, 77 % lived in urban and 23 % in rural areas. We extracted four metacodes (‘Usual activities’, ‘Requirements for participation’, ‘Barriers to participation’ and ‘Facilitators for participation’) and 15 subcodes. Health and poorly designed infrastructure were mentioned as important barriers to participation, and friendship and neighbourhood cohesion as important facilitators.

Conclusions

This qualitative study revealed that poor design and accessibility of municipal infrastructure are major barriers to participation in old age in Germany. Community and neighbourhood structures can be part of the problem but also part of the solution when accessibility and social networks are taken into account.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the participating municipalities Gersthofen, Bobingen and the city of Augsburg in the KORA Augsburg region for assistance with the design and organization of the study, as well as the representatives of the respective senior advisory boards for their valuable information and their great support in the implementation of the focus group discussions. We would like to thank Linda Liang for her support in proof-reading the manuscript. The KORA research platform (KORA, Cooperative Research in the Region of Augsburg) was initiated and financed by the Helmholtz Zentrum München—German Research Center for Environmental Health, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the State of Bavaria. The KORA-Age project was financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF FKZ 01ET0713, 01ET1003A and 01ET1003C) as part of the ‘Health in old age’ programme.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometrics and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 17, 81377, Munich, Germany

    Ralf Strobl, Alicja Ludyga & Eva Grill

  2. German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich, Germany

    Ralf Strobl & Eva Grill

  3. Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany

    Werner Maier & Andreas Mielck

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  1. Ralf Strobl
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  2. Werner Maier
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Correspondence to Ralf Strobl.

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Strobl, R., Maier, W., Ludyga, A. et al. Relevance of community structures and neighbourhood characteristics for participation of older adults: a qualitative study. Qual Life Res 25, 143–152 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1049-9

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