JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

To address the challenges of population ageing, WHO has made a great effort to promote Age-Friendly Communities Initiatives(AFCIs). Previous researches evaluating Age-Friendly Communities(AFCs) are often associated with negative health outcomes of the elderly.

Objective:

This study aims to evaluate different living experience of the elderly in the communities which have adopted age-friendly policies, such as the sense of gain, happiness and security, summarize the deficiencies in the process of constructing AFCs in China, and provide some implications to promote AFCIs in the world.

Methods:

By using a multistage sampling strategy, 470 community residents between rural and urban areas participated in this study. A self-designed questionnaire was designed to use a standardized method to evaluate the elderlys’ living experience and their community’s age-friendliness.

Results:

In this research, many community residents(81.3%) were not aware of the relevant concepts of AFCs, most participants highlighted the importance of community support and health services. The results also shown that the degree of the sense of security among five dimensions was the highest, while the degree of social support was the lowest, especially the urban elderlys’ evaluation. Meanwhile, there were significant difference in the evaluation of living experiences from different aged residents in urban areas about three dimensions, including the degree of age-friendly(P＜0.001), the degree of social support(P＜0.001), and the sense of gain in community life(P=0.013).

Conclusions:

China is in the early stages of becoming age-friendly. We further highlight the importance of continued research on multiply support from from the family, communities, and the government to promote AFCIs. These outcomes have a direct and positive impact on the well‐being of older adults.