Social interaction and empowerment for older adults: Between “no need” and “no time”?

Having control over one’s life and an active role in society, or seeing oneself as a valuable community member, are examples of what it means to be empowered. Social interaction is, thus, both an antecedent and a consequence of empowerment. In Western societies, an emerging awareness that aging has become associated with a loss of empowerment has motivated efforts to better address this necessity in older adults. In this context, we created an innovative cognitive stimulation tool, where exercises are created by the users themselves as an alternative form of stimulation. After a period of intense dissemination in geriatric institutions, we encountered lower-than-expected levels of engagement. To understand whether this could be due to lack of material and human resources and/or lack of awareness regarding empowerment needs, we carried out semi-structured interviews with older adults and coordinating technicians in institutions. We found evidence that supported both a scenario of scarce institutional resources (“no time”) and a lack of awareness of empowerment needs, especially among older adults (“no need”). We discuss potential ways to help change this scenario.