Connectivity and Digital Design for Promoting Health and Well-being Across Generations, Places and Spaces

这项为期3年的研究计划旨在研究我们如何设计、测试、交付和评估数字资源，以促进为老年人提供“健康连接”的结构化活动计划。通过审查对两项现有倡议--代际体育活动(IGPA)和基于运动的代际回忆(SBIR)--采用数字化方法的可行性和影响，这项研究将展示开发相关产品和服务的潜力，以加强对晚年健康的支持。发展和加强老年人的“连通性”--他们与社区、资源和有意义的活动的联系--是支持健康老龄化和减少晚年健康不平等的关键部分。社会连通性和越来越多的数字连通性是我们这里所说的“健康连通性”的支柱，也就是个人与健康和福祉支持的联系。IGPA和SBIR的目的都是为了开展活动，促进参与者在几代人之内和之间的社会联系，增加相互理解和同理心。社会连通性对老年人的健康行为和健康结果的影响是众所周知的，以及由于区域剥夺等因素以及视觉、听力和认知障碍等条件而导致晚年社会连通性降低的风险。人们对维持和改善互联互通、从而优化这些好处的最有效方法知之甚少。新冠肺炎的流行让人们意识到，需要能够在一个与社会距离遥远的世界里有效地提供支持老年人社会连通性的项目，如政府间公共部门会计准则和社区政策研究所，但数字连通性--通过数字技术实现的连通性--对于老年人来说已经变得越来越重要，除了电子健康应用和在线医疗服务外，他们还能够获得社区、信息和其他资源。新冠肺炎还突显出迫切需要解决所谓的“数字鸿沟”，即由于年龄、经济劣势和功能限制而导致的获取数字连接方面的不平等，该计划将刺激有助于缩小此类不平等的发展。这项研究计划将由普利茅斯大学和斯特林大学的跨学科研究人员团队提供，包括六个月的相互关联和相互依赖的工作包(WPS)，并将在整个过程中采用创新的跨代联合制作方法。在工作方案1中，将建立信息共享机制，成立一个咨询参考小组，审查和约谈代际方案编制提供者，以便向随后的工作方案提供信息，并为IGPA和SBIR参与者的测试前和测试后制定结果措施。在WP2社区居住方面，康沃尔()和苏格兰(32)的老年人和年轻参与者以及来自12家养老院(16家斯特林/32家康沃尔)的48名居民将通过合作组织招募，并为WP3组建20个由研究人员支持的代际联合制作小组(ICG)。在基线结果评估之后，每个国际导航卫星委员会将在为期6个月的时间里每两周举行一次会议，分享运动和体力活动的经验，探索和测试IGPA或SBIR的辅助技术。将对会议和研究人员观察的记录进行主题分析，以记录这些过程，并确定围绕用户需求和产品想法的主题。在WP4中，将分享调查结果，WP团队将与中小企业业务合作伙伴合作，创新支持IGPA和SBIR的新技术，并通过ICGS测试的中小企业设计概念，为ICGS在WP5中测试的原型的开发提供信息，最后进行测试后结果评估。影响的跨项目执行、知识交流和沟通战略、相互关联的经验性工作方案之间的协调以及传播活动都包括在工作方案6中

This 3-year research programme aims to examine how we can design, test, deliver and evaluate digital resources to facilitate structured activity programmes for 'health connectivity' in older age. Through examining the feasibility and impact of a digital approach to two existing initiatives, intergenerational physical activity (IGPA) and sports-based intergenerational reminiscence (SBIR), the research will demonstrate the potential for development of related products and services to enhance support for health in later life. Developing and strengthening older people's 'connectivities' - their links with community, resources and meaningful activities - is a key part of supporting healthy ageing and reducing health inequalities in later life. Social connectivity and increasingly, digital connectivity, are pillars of what we here term 'health connectivity', or an individual's links to supports for health and well-being. Both IGPA and SBIR are designed to deliver activities in ways which foster social connectivity for participants within and between generations, increasing mutual understanding and empathy. The impact of social connectivity on older people's health behaviours and health outcomes is well established, as is risk of reduced social connectivity in later life due to factors such as area deprivation and conditions like visual, hearing and cognitive impairment. Far less is known about the most effective ways to maintain and improve connectedness and so optimise those benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the need to be able to deliver programmes which support older people's social connectivity such as IGPA and SBIR effectively in a socially distanced world, but digital connectivity-connectedness through digital technology - was already of growing importance to older people in enabling them to access community, information and other resources in addition to eHealth applications and online healthcare services. COVID-19 has also brought into stark relief the need to urgently address so called 'digital divides', inequalities in access to digital connectivity through age, economic disadvantage and functional limitations, and this programme will stimulate developments which help to reduce such inequalities. The research programme, to be delivered by an interdisciplinary team of researchers based at the Universities of Plymouth and Stirling, consists of six 6-month inter-linked and co-dependant work packages (WPs) and will employ an innovative intergenerational co-production approach throughout. In WP1, information sharing mechanisms will be developed, a consultative Reference Group constituted, reviews and interviews with intergenerational programming providers to inform subsequent WPs conducted, and outcome measures developed for a pre- and post- testing of IGPA and SBIR participants. In WP2 community dwelling older people and younger participants in Cornwall (64) and Scotland (32) and 48 residents from 12 care homes (16 Stirling/32 Cornwall) will be recruited via partner organisations and form 20 researcher-supported intergenerational co-production groups (ICGs) for WP3. Following baseline outcome assessments, each ICG will meet bi-weekly for 6 months to share experiences of sport and physical activity and explore and test assistive technologies for either IGPA or SBIR. Recording of meetings and researcher observations will be thematically analysed to document those processes and identify themes around user needs and product ideas. In WP4 findings will be shared and the WP team will work with SME business partners to innovate new technologies to support IGPA and SBIR, with SMEs design concepts tested by the ICGs to inform development of prototypes tested by the ICGs in WP5, ending with post-test outcome assessments. Project-spanning implementation of the impact, knowledge exchange and communications strategy, coordination across interlinked empirical WPs, and dissemination activities are all included within WP6