Time to break the social isolation amongst the older citizens´ and home care users: Combining national citizen panels with local learning labs for circular citizen and user involvement

Research problem & specific questions The project focuses on older citizens, eldercare users and their relatives and the co-production of preventive measures against social isolation by developing, testing & refining methods to connect and utilise infrastructures for older citizens’ participation in healthcare and welfare services at the local and national levels.

To explore the potentials of local co-production initiatives (learning labs) that involves older citizens and municipal/regional actors to prevent loneliness and social isolationTo critically examine the potential of national digital citizen panels as a means for effective, equal, flexible and accessible participation of older adults in co-production on a local levelTo identify methods for co-production of eldercare service involving municipal/regional actors and older citizensData & methodBy utilising local structures for co-production within the Gothenburg Region Association of Local Authorities (GR), newly formed learning labs with older citizens, their relatives and practitioners and the digital infrastructure for national citizen participation within the Swedish Citizen Panel, we aim to link local co-production initiatives to a digital panel of about 13000 older adults.

The goal is to develop methods for the co-production of eldercare by combining the local context via learning labs with national citizen panels for effective, equal and accessible participation of older adults.

Due to a large number of respondents from the national citizen panels, the project will aim to identify similar needs, solutions, and proposals that can be returned to the local context for circular knowledge creation and prototype testing.Plan for project realisationThe current project draws on design thinking models & social practice theory by combining quantitative and qualitative methods.

The project consists of a consortium from the Gothenburg Region, The University of Gothenburg, The IT University of Copenhagen and user/citizen representatives.RelevanceImproving collaboration between different stakeholders and older citizens, eldercare users and their relatives has been highlighted as significant for facilitating integrated care and social welfare.

The current fragmentation in measures against loneliness and social isolation and the lack of knowledge about this issue puts older adults at risk of poor health and consequently an increase in healthcare and social welfare services.