The experience of social participation from the perspectives of community elderly dwellings : A descriptive literature review

Abstract: Background: The growing number of older people globally affected their health and quality of life. Research had shown that changing social roles in older people were associated with healthy aging. Therefore, it is particularly important to pay attention to the health and social participation of older people in communities.Aim: To describe the experience of social participation from the perspectives of community elderly dwellings.Methods: We examined a research questions: How do community elderly dwellings describe their experience of social participation? We included qualitative studies of the experiences of older people over the age of sixty who lived in the community and engaged in social participation. We searched 11 articles from seven countries using PubMed, and adopted two-dimensional matrices to array thematic material method to analyze the data.Results: The findings of “The experience of social participation among the community elderly dwellings” were grouped under five categories. The community elderly dwellings believed that social participation could improve physical, mental and cognitive functions. Through the support of others, they felt socially connected and found personal value. However, facilities and personal factors could affect the social participation of the elderly in the community.Conclusions: Social participation brought many physical and psychological benefits to the community elderly dwellings, but there were still many factors that hinder their participation. In order to encourage their social participation and achieve healthy aging, multifaceted assistance is needed. In this process, the needs of the community elderly dwellings need to be noticed and reasonably addressed.Keywords: ageing; community elderly dwellings; experience; health; social participation.