Abstract
The age-friendly communities movement has grown rapidly in global prominence over the past 2 decades. However, theories to guide multisectoral action toward age-friendly community change have been slower to develop. We demonstrate the value of drawing on theories of community collaboration to inform age-friendly community efforts across engagement, planning, implementation, and measurement. We introduce 3 theories—Asset-Based Community Development, Strategic Doing, and Collective Impact—each with principles and strategies for guiding multisectoral group processes toward long-term and systematic community change. While distinct from each other, these theories collectively suggest the importance of incorporating a more explicit community-building approach within the age-friendly communities movement. We describe the implications of this integrative theory development for bolstering sustainable and comprehensive practices and policies to improve environments for aging across diverse communities.
Original language | American English |
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Journal | The Gerontologist |
Volume | 62 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2022 |
Keywords
- Age in place
- Community development
- Evaluation
- Healthy aging
- Public policy