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Lookup NU author(s): Dhruv Sharma
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This paper presents the results from a radical-digital loneliness intervention we developed for older adults based on our hybrid approach of Social Innovation for Active Ageing (SIFAA), described within. Age-related loneliness is a major social issue as it is increasing alongside an upward global population trend which predicts that nearly 22% of the world population will be aged 60 years or over by 2050. This ‘silver tsunami’ represents an unprecedented growth of the elderly population and is likely to exert socioeconomic pressure globally in the form of healthcare needs, etc. In this paper, we recognise that the ‘activity theory of ageing’ provides a good foundation for developing effective strategies for tackling loneliness amongst older adults and we highlight its potential and restraints in this area. We propose that combining it with ‘social Innovation’ can ease its fixation on the individual as the ‘unit of analysis’. We examine both these theoretical frameworks to discuss how a hybridisation of activity theory of ageing and social innovation can allow for a significant movement away from the dominant incremental approach to developing loneliness-interventions. We call this hybrid approach Social Innovation for Active Ageing (SIFAA). Having reviewed how we developed the SIFAA approach, we discuss the findings from our action research project for older adults based on SIFAA.
Author(s): Sharma D, Clune S, Blair L
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: The 20th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference
Year of Conference: 2016
Print publication date: 28/07/2016
Online publication date: 26/05/2016
Acceptance date: 26/05/2016
Publisher: Design Management Institute
Series Title: Inflection point: Design research meets design practice
