Research activities
Health and well-being
Objectives
The Health and well-being research field starts from the understanding that in most EU countries, the gains in life expectancy in the past decades stem from two factors: first, better social conditions during the life course of subsequent cohorts of older people, and second, continued advancement in medical care and technology.
Both factors enable longer lives, with the first factor affecting longevity in both healthy and diseased older people, and the second factor in particular allowing longer lives in older people with diseases.
The challenge, then, is not only to delay the onset of disease, but also to foster socially productive and satisfying lives for older people in poor health. Social engagement, in turn, has been shown to improve well-being and delay disability.
Strategic
The aim of our activities is to provide insights, and propose innovations, in factors driving social engagement of older people in poor health. This corresponds to recommendations from interest groups such as EuroHealthNet to improve ways in which older people can contribute to society. This research field has a particular focus on mechanisms at the micro, meso and macro level that are likely to foster socially productive and satisfying lives in older people in poor health:
Healthy lifestyles and psychosocial conditions during the life course and at present (micro).
Availability and accessibility of health care services such as post-acute care and rehabilitation services, and the physical environment (meso).
Policies and social innovations that facilitate effective social engagement and inclusion (macro).
These mechanisms will be examined for specific population groups according to age, socio-economic status, marital status, and gender.
Operational
Like other MOPACT research fields, we used a mixed research strategy, including literature review, secondary analyses of existing databases, and expert focus groups. Throughout different stages of research, the engagement of key stakeholders brought useful insights about differences across countries and what good innovative practices can be emulated by individual countries.
To conduct a state-of-the-art review of important health indicators and healthy life expectancy.
To carry out in-depth investigations of social engagement.
To survey policies and practices that foster social engagement.
To identify innovative scenarios that support social engagement in older people in poor health.
The tasks of this research field are:
Task 1: Review of health indicators and healthy life expectancy (HLE)
To provide a state-of-the-art review of the variety in levels of, and trends in, important health indicators and healthy life expectancy in as many EU countries as possible, with special focus on new member states.
Task 2: Social engagement and participation
To examine in-depth the social engagement (labour market participation, neighbourhood/community life, volunteering, informal caregiving) of older people with diseases and disability and its determinants, using databases in selected EU countries (micro level).
Task 3: Good practice in social engagement
To compile good practice examples of policies and innovative practices that foster social engagement of older people, especially those in poor health, using qualitative interviews with expert focus groups in selected countries (meso level).
Task 4: Synthesis of data
To combine information across EU countries on levels of health and social involvement with information on availability and accessibility of health and social care services, both acute and long-term, and other policies such as those affecting retirement behaviour (macro level).
Task 5: Generate innovative scenarios
To combine insights from Tasks 1–4 in innovative alternative scenarios that foster social engagement in older people in poor health, and to project healthy life expectancy for selected countries assuming the presence of such scenarios.