Citation

Russell E, Skinner MW, Colibaba A. J. Rural Stud. 2021; 81: 336-344.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.10.053

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Notwithstanding a few exceptions, the global age-friendly literature remains mostly silent on the problem of the longer-term, sustainable implementation of age-friendly initiatives. This paper seeks to address this gap by presenting rural insights from a multi-site case study in Ontario, Canada, that considers the influence of unique, rural community contexts that may differentially impact parameters of success and longer-term sustainability among rural age-friendly programs.

FINDINGS from interviews with 46 age-friendly leaders across five rural communities demonstrate that contextual community factors directly affected rural age-friendly sustainability. Specifically, the presence of social connectivity (sense of community) created an opportunity for age-friendly sustainability, whereas a lack of geographic connectivity (jurisdictional fragmentation) presented a challenge. These contextual insights demonstrate an additional pathway to rural age-friendly sustainability - considering the social and jurisdictional level of age-friendly implementation prior to initial development, a pathway which reinforces the need for a specifically rural age-friendly agenda that supports rural older adults.

Language: en

Keywords

Age-friendly communities; Community; Fragmentation; Rural ageing; Rural communities; Sustainability