Impact of a novel, inclusive, community-based food model on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people

Background: While life expectancy in the United Kingdom has significantly improved, considerable health inequalities that hinder healthy ageing for all older people still exist.

Gender, culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geography and access to social resources are important moderators of inequality and result in widely different trajectories of ageing along the life course.

While numerous global and national strategies and policies including the UK Government Green Social Prescribing and Grand Challenge on Ageing have been initiated to address healthy ageing, considerable challenges still exist.

This highlights the need for innovative evidence-based research to underlie policy focused on inclusive ageing particularly for older people of low socioeconomic status and diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Inner-cities and urban environments present unique challenges for older people owing to higher cost of living, poor accessibility, constant urban renewal with effects on social engagement, sense of belonging leading to social isolation and loneliness.

There is emerging, but relatively little, research on community-based interventions to improve the wellbeing of older people living in old age-specific social housing settings within inner-cities and urban areas.

Bermondsey, an inner-city area in London is among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country and has one of the oldest and poorest populations in the UK.

While the surrounding Southwark neighbourhoods have undergone significant regeneration, there has been limited investment in local infrastructure in Bermondsey.

Older people within the community have limited access to public transport or large supermarkets and experience significant loneliness and social isolation.

Active participation in communal activities and maintaining meaningful engagement with the community are integral to identity, sense of purpose and contribute to healthy ageing.

Recently implemented community-based food models with multigenerational components have reported some success in reducing social isolation and loneliness; and have shown potential to enhance health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.

However, very few of these initiatives were robustly evaluated, did not include older people as co-researchers and have not impacted policy or practice.

This highlights a need for inclusive, multidisciplinary evidence-based research that collaborates with older people to develop and evaluate a sustainable model that is responsive to their needs and impacts policy and practice.

Aim: The overall aim of the research will be to co-design, co-implement and evaluate with older people as co-researchers an innovative, inclusive, tailored community-based food model to improve health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people.

Methods: The study will use participatory community-engaged research, in particular, realist methodology and participatory action research.

Building on existing social and cultural capital, community initiatives and strong partnerships with community organisations, the research will actively involve older people as co-researchers to ensure that the perspectives of older people are embedded throughout the research cycle.

The study will be set within a newly developed, older persons’ social-housing, Appleby Blue House with communal and cookery spaces, for people of all ages living in this diverse area of inner-city London.

The research will implement a wide range of food-based activities, around communal food growing, cooking and eating which are tailored and suited to older people. Data collection will be conducted using a mixed-methods approach.

Qualitative data collection will involve innovative, inclusive community participatory approaches and creative methods including photovoice, digital stories, community asset mapping, round table discussions and focus groups.

This will unearth and provide important insights into the unique contexts and experiences of older people, enhance inclusion, engagement, participation, sustainability and ownership of the model.

Quantitative data collection will comprise validated and robust markers to objectively assess the measurable impacts of the model on health, wellbeing, diet quality and social connectedness of older people.

Output and impacts: This research will provide new robust evidence on measurable outcomes on participatory inclusive research with older people that show positive impacts on health, wellbeing and social connectedness of older people and the wider community.

The community-based food model situated in a social housing setting will strengthen community integration and ensure that the building and its older residents are an asset to the community.

Furthermore, the adaptable toolkit and resources will inform policy, including the National Food Strategy, future ageing-related research, design of older persons housing and age diverse community programmes to promote community cohesion and healthy lifestyle choices to improve healthy ageing.