Effective promotion of sustainable wellbeing among older people: the social quality approach

BACKGROUND: Social quality approach examines the elements of social and health policies that should constitute a decent society that quarantines sustainable wellbeing for all. We co-developed and evaluated the effectiveness of a comprehensive intervention for promotion social quality among older people to answer their multiple wellbeing needs. METHODS: Participatory workshops were held for older people aged 70+ years (N = 76) and for public-private-NGOs (n = 35) working with them in Finland. The co-develop model was piloted and evaluated using quasi-experimental design with 4 months follow-up measurements. Qualitative interview data were collected from older people and managers. Thematic analyses was applied using the elements of social quality: socioeconomic security, social empowerment, social inclusion, and cohesion. RESULTS: Older people reported having poor socioeconomic security (unequal access of multidisciplinary services), poor empowerment (insufficient skills to use the digital services), and low cohesion (lack of trust to local service providers). The developed intervention effectively supported older people's perceived social quality: socioeconomic security, empowerment and cohesion. CONCLUSIONS: Sustainable wellbeing promotion among older people should constitute from the socioeconomic security but also empower and build trust to public stakeholders. The co-developed intervention group model could be one solution for this and to support older people to live a healthy and meaningful life at home. KEY MESSAGES: • The inclusive approach to wellbeing promotion could help to health and social service provided to answer the multiple health and wellbeing need of the older people. • The wide stakeholder collaboration between public, private and non-governmental organizations is essential in developing, producing and evaluating the multidisciplinary services for older people.