Co-Ownership in Ageing in Place for Older Adults and Informal Caregivers

As more older adults continue living at home for longer, organisations face the challenge of involving them and their informal caregivers in the development and improvement of products and services. Many organisations lack the expertise and capacity to do this effectively. This project explores how residents can become genuine partners in shaping the services that affect their lives, working together with students, healthcare professionals and residents.

Project Background

A transition is needed within organisations that support older adults living independently in The Hague. Rather than designing services for residents, organisations increasingly need to design them with residents. This project investigates how meaningful resident participation can be embedded in everyday practice and how collaboration between residents and professionals can create better outcomes for everyone involved.

Objective

The project aims to explore, together with healthcare professionals, how meaningful participation can become part of daily practice. It also examines how stronger relationships between clients and professionals can contribute to greater job satisfaction and a better quality of life for clients.

Target Group

Healthcare professionals, students, residents and informal caregivers.

Method

The project consists of participatory research carried out in collaboration with students, residents and healthcare professionals, alongside the development of a training course. Creative methods such as photography and mood boards are used to encourage participation and dialogue.

During the first phase of the project, student teams worked in co-creation with residents and healthcare professionals to explore topics that residents considered important.

During the second phase, a group of healthcare professionals and residents worked together to discover how meaningful resident participation could be integrated into everyday practice. Together they experimented with creative methods such as taking photographs, creating mood boards and other participatory activities.

Results

In the first phase of the project, student teams explored themes that residents identified as important, including enjoyment of living, loneliness and meaningful daily activities. The project also experimented with the use of both live animals and robotic animals in care settings. In addition, valuable insights were gained into what works well, and what does not, when involving residents in participatory processes.

Building on these findings and the Participatory Healthcare learning programme, healthcare professionals and residents worked together during the second phase to explore meaningful forms of participation. Activities such as asking residents to lead guided tours, creating mood boards together, participating in shared activities and simply engaging in open conversations without predefined expectations resulted in meaningful and sometimes unexpected interactions. The project also identified key conditions for successful participation, including sufficient time, effective communication and involving all stakeholders from the very beginning.

At the end of the project, the results will be presented in an infographic.

Duration

2023 – 2025

Collaboration

For this project, The Hague University of Applied Sciences collaborates with Saffier.

Funding

This project is part of the The Hague and Leiden Social Domain Workplace (Werkplaats Sociaal Domein Den Haag en Leiden) partnership. Projects within this partnership are funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and supported by Movisie.

Contact

Zsuzsu Tavy
[email protected]