Employing Participatory Citizen Science Methods to Promote Age-Friendly Environments Worldwide

Abby C. King, Diane K. King, Ann Banchoff, Smadar Solomonov, Ofir Ben Natan, Jenna Hua, Paul Gardiner, Lisa Goldman Rosas, Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa, Sandra J. Winter, Jylana Sheats, Deborah Salvo, Nicolas Aguilar-Farias, Afroditi Stathi, Adriano Akira Hino, Michelle M. Porter and On behalf of the Our Voice Global Citizen Science Research Network
Additional contact information
Abby C. King: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Diane K. King: Center for Behavioral Health Research and Services, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA
Ann Banchoff: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Smadar Solomonov: JDC Eshel, Jerusalem 91034, Israel
Ofir Ben Natan: JDC Eshel, Jerusalem 91034, Israel
Jenna Hua: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Paul Gardiner: Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
Lisa Goldman Rosas: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Sandra J. Winter: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Jylana Sheats: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Deborah Salvo: Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Nicolas Aguilar-Farias: Department of Physical Education, Sports and Recreation, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4780000, Chile
Afroditi Stathi: School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Adriano Akira Hino: Postgraduate Program in Health Technology (PPGTS), Polytechnic School, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (PUCPR), Curitiba (PR) 80215-901, Brazil
Michelle M. Porter: Centre on Aging, and Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, MB R3T 2N2, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-30

Abstract: The trajectory of aging is profoundly impacted by the physical and social environmental contexts in which we live. While “top–down” policy activities can have potentially wide impacts on such contexts, they often take time, resources, and political will, and therefore can be less accessible to underserved communities. This article describes a “bottom–up”, resident-engaged method to advance local environmental and policy change, called Our Voice, that can complement policy-level strategies for improving the health, function, and well-being of older adults. Using the World Health Organization’s age-friendly cities global strategy, we describe the Our Voice citizen science program of research that has specifically targeted older adults as environmental change agents to improve their own health and well-being as well as that of their communities. Results from 14 Our Voice studies that have occurred across five continents demonstrate that older adults can learn to use mobile technology to systematically capture and collectively analyze their own data. They can then successfully build consensus around high-priority issues that can be realistically changed and work effectively with local stakeholders to enact meaningful environmental and policy changes that can help to promote healthy aging. The article ends with recommended next steps for growing the resident-engaged citizen science field to advance the health and welfare of all older adults.

Keywords: citizen science; participatory research; older adults; aging; age-friendly environments; WHO; health promotion; health equity; digital health; built environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1541/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1541/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1541-:d:325879

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().