Abstract
Increasingly, asset-based community development (ABCD) is recognised as improving health and wellness through building social connectedness and community capacity. However, how ABCD achieves these outcomes and the contextual factors that contribute to this process continue to be discovered. Adopting a qualitative realist evaluation, the study examines how ABCD promotes health and wellness among older adults in Singapore by exploring how healthcare practitioners utilise ABCD when engaging with individuals, communities, and other service providers. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 38 participants, including practitioners and senior residents, were conducted to identify the mechanisms driving ABCD, the context in which they operate, and the generated outcomes. Critically, it showed that the creation of resident-led, co-created, and centre-facilitated activities reflected not only the varying levels of senior participation in response to ABCD, but was shaped by the context - how practitioners co-shared spaces with residents and partnered service providers and calibrated each engagement to the stakeholders’ level of readiness. The creation of activities through intentional, graduated engagement and negotiations through relationships and physical space, with both senior residents and other service providers in the neighbourhood, is what spurs an improvement in social connectedness amongst seniors and drives the proliferation of ABCD within the locality. This paper calls for the appreciation of community and organisational contexts in facilitating community development involving older adults, for health and well-being.
Presenters
Wen Xuan ShawResearch Assistant, Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Asset-based Community Development, Asset-based Approaches, Health, Wellness, Realist Evaluation, Ageing
