Exploring the Value of an Age Friendly University to Integrated Community Care and Older Adult Health and Wellbeing

Introduction: We are all connected relational beings that require connections with others to optimise our health and well-being. Ireland has the highest rates of loneliness in the European Union which has been found to have profound impacts on our physical and mental health. In addition, ageism towards older adults also reduces our lifespan. An ageing demographic brings strengths and challenges to society. As people live longer healthier lives, we are likely to have more people living well with managed multiple chronic diseases. Part of the solution to providing care to an ageing population is integrated care combining both medical and social models of care. The Irish Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP) has twelve social areas that are being implemented alongside the medical model called Living Well at Home (LW@H). Concurrently, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Age Friendly Cities and Communities initiative strives to enhance the quality of life for older people across eight domains. These domains, have in turn, been used to formulate the ten principles of an Age Friendly University (AFU). Connecting two research studies in health and education this conference paper will explore the intersectionality of both the LW@H and the AFU frameworks. It will explore how utilising them together can enable us to age well and contribute to society as we grow older. There are shared values in both frameworks that need to be understood further. It requires investigating if by linking similar segments of both frameworks and developing interdisciplinary collaborations there are benefits to older people in particular and, to society in general. Methodology: Research through Design (RtD), an inclusive, collaborative methodology underpins both research projects. RtD uses co-design and co-production methods to engage creatively with stakeholders eliciting a sustainable solution to the problem under investigation. The findings from project one will be used in conjunction with the principles of an AFU to analyse data gathered from the first stages of project two’s field research which is ongoing. In addition, using the values of an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach the strengths each framework brings to the project will be examined. Using the strengths identified and creative design thinking a template for linking the two frameworks will be developed. Results: Implementation of policies to reduce ageism, generate intergenerational solidarity and enable us to age well are important in combating the challenges of an ageing global demographic. Integrated care programmes combining a medical model with a social model of care are important to enabling us to age well. AFU’s have an important role to play in providing a space for older people to form social connections, engage in all of the university’s activities and to participate in research around the needs of an ageing population. It is hoped that this research will provide a means of rolling out some aspects of the LW@H that complement several of the ten principles of an AFU thus contributing to enabling us all to age well in place.