Addressing loneliness in later life: employing remote co-design approaches with older people in Scotland
Creators: name: Wang, Yixuan
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: loneliness in later life
remote co-design
older people
older people in Scotland

description: Loneliness in later life has become a prominent and persistent social issue in the context of ageing societies and the increasing emphasis on individual well-being. Despite the development of various interventions, their effectiveness remains limited. Many interventions adopt a top-down strategy, where older individuals are often placed as passive recipients of pre-designed services, leading to inadequate active involvement from this demographic as the essential target audience. Against this background and in response to the evolving importance of participatory methods, this practice-led research, situated during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to explore the possibility of relieving loneliness in later life by fully and actively engaging older individuals in the intervention design process through remote co-design approaches. Previous research from scientific and humanistic perspectives has indicated the dynamic and heterogenous nature of loneliness as a complex social issue. Recognising the growing awareness that design embodies a synthesising perspective and the ability to reshape problems-as given, make it an effective tool to address such wicked social problems. Through this lens of design, the study endeavours to answer two research questions: (1) What are the challenges and difficulties regarding loneliness in later life faced by local older people and service providers? (2) What roles does remote co-design play in this exploratory process of addressing loneliness in later life during the pandemic? The exploration unfolds in two phases: field investigation and design development. Employing case study research with semi-structured interviews and focus groups as data collection methods, and grounded theory as data analysis guidance, the field investigation reveals limitations of existing interventions, and delves deeper into challenges faced by local service providers and older people. Building on these findings from the field, the subsequent design stage utilises design methods, including cultural probes and generative toolkits, facilitated by online workshops, to remotely co-design with local older people, both to seek potential interventions and serve as an intervention itself. The ultimate findings contribute to knowledge in several ways: (1) It responds directly to the imperative from multiple facets of society in addressing loneliness in later life, and calls for the active involvement of older individuals in participatory and ageing research. (2) The findings provide concrete qualitative insights into the current status of the field, alongside challenges faced by service providers and older people regarding loneliness in later life in the Scottish context. (3) Actively engaging with older individuals through the design process enhances the accessibility and adoptability of the design outcomes, while fostering meaningful connections among the participants. (4) This research also adds to the existing methodological literature on co-design by exploring its multifaceted roles, and sheds light on the challenges and opportunities of involving older people in a co-design process. Furthermore, it provides a unique contribution in the exploration of co-designing with older individuals in a remote setting, which offers critical insights for the development of more inclusive co-design approaches across diverse age groups and geographic regions.