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Levers for Change and Unexpected Outcomes of a Participatory Research Partnership: Toward Fostering Older adults’ Social Participation to Promote Health Equity
Author(s) -
Turcotte PierLuc,
Carrier Annie,
Levasseur Mélanie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1002/ajcp.12444
Subject(s) - general partnership , community based participatory research , public relations , participatory action research , stakeholder engagement , social engagement , equity (law) , health equity , focus group , citizen journalism , stakeholder , feeling , sociology , psychology , public health , nursing , political science , business , medicine , social psychology , marketing , social science , anthropology , law
Promoting health equity in aging requires ensuring older adults’ effective access to community‐based services fostering their social participation. This study aimed to (a) identify levers for change in community‐based services to foster older adults’ social participation and (b) explore unexpected outcomes of stakeholder engagement. Based in a large Canadian city, a critical participatory research partnership was formed in a district experiencing considerable health disparities. Four focus groups and seven individual interviews were followed by a collaborative workshop with 28 community stakeholders. Participants identified mainly systemic and organizational levers for change. These levers comprised changing performance indicators and the institutional culture of homecare to value services fostering social participation opportunities. Other levers included supporting individual change agency through participatory research involving community members. Stakeholder engagement led to five unexpected outcomes: “Marking a new beginning,” “Expressing ourselves,” “Feeling better,” “Working together,” and “Influencing the community.” Recognizing levers for change is essential to understand how to develop services fostering social participation to promote health equity, with whom and in which contexts.