THE EVOLVING ROLE OF SENIOR CENTERS IN AN ERA OF THE AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY MOVEMENT

摘要

Senior centers across the nation continue to serve as important access and focal points for older adults to voice their desires, meet their independent living needs, and to engage in opportunities that support many of the key concepts to Age-Friendliness (i.e., social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic engagement, transportation and community supports and health services). Senior Centers are the front line of aging services and thus in a position to to implement programs and raise public awareness about such initiatives. The purpose of this presentation is to present and discuss challenges, opportunities and outcomes of senior center involvement in Age Friendly activities. Data from three towns were pooled to conduct descriptive analysis of resident users (n=740) and nonusers (n=2,560) of senior center services. Compared to residents that do not report using the senior center, resident users are mostly female, have lived in the community for a longer duration and live alone at higher rates. This cross-sectional analysis also shows that users of senior centers have higher rates of self-reported fair or poor physical health compared to those residents who do not use the senior center (10.7% v. 17.5%); and those who use the senior center have higher rates of self-reported fair or poor emotional health (5.0% v. 7.7%). This presentation will discuss how these results support strategies by which senior centers support some of the most vulnerable members of an aging community; but also how they can emerge as leaders in the development of age friendly communities.