What Is Meaningful Participation for Older People? An Analysis of Aging Policies.

This article addresses the question: "How is meaningful participation reflected and enabled in policy?"
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Eleven global, national, and local policies were purposively selected and analyzed using thematic and discourse analysis.
RESULTS: Policies framed population aging as a challenge and active aging as a value as or part of the policy-making process, participation is enabled (or not) through the types of participation encouraged by policy makers and the kinds of participation used to engage with older people.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our analysis identifies a strong pattern of discourses regarding individual responsibility to age well; underlying tensions between productive and passive participation; and tensions inherent to the concept of consultation. Implications include the need for those in the consultative phase of policy making to engage with diverse older people and to use participatory methods to explore what meaningful participation means for older people themselves.
PMID: 31112606 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: The Gerontologist - May 20, 2019 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Dizon L, Wiles J, Peiris-John R Tags: Gerontologist Source Type: research