increasingly important means of sustaining the health of people worldwide, whether by providing access to a wealth of information, by linking geographically dispersed communities of peers and professionals, or by supporting self-management of health and illness’ (). The ubiquity of digital technologies, their ability to overcome mobility issues, and their usage as alternate infrastructure make digital technologies an extremely potent option to explore when designing loneliness interventions for the elderly (). Han and Braun highlight the ‘critical’ role that digital technologies and digital literacy play in active ageing by facilitating participation and social connectivity through enhanced communication (). Extending active ageing Although ‘active ageing’ lacks a precise universally accepted definition (), Walker and Maltby trace its roots back to activity theory of ageing (). Activity theory of ageing (ATA) is a perspective on ageing proposed by Havinghurst (), who suggests that there are no differences between middle-aged and old people, with the exception of biological and health-related aspects. In the activity theory, it is assumed that continuing the activity patterns and values characteristic of middle age is essential to having a rich and satisfying life (). Or as Walker suggests, successful ageing is achieved ‘by denying the onset of old age and by replacing those relationships, activities and roles of middle age that are lost with new ones in order to maintain activities and life satisfaction’ ().Therefore activity theory displays a ‘functionalist perspective’ () and it assumes a positive relationship between a person’s level of activity and life satisfaction. This increases a person’s ‘self-concept’ or how positively one perceives himself or herself and enhances adjustment in later life ().The application of activity theory looks to encourage or support older adults in remaining active beyond middle age by finding replacements for these ‘lost roles’ and social positions (). Or as Schroots puts it, activity theory calls for the substitution of old roles by new ones in an elderly persons’ life to ensure a positive sense and a better quality of life (). Although very popular in public healthcare, activity theory has been criticised for overlooking inequalities in health and socio-economic status. It is also questioned for neglecting other important factors such as personality traits and lifestyle characteristics (; ).
Table 3: Logging the shortlisted idea Problem 1 Loneliness amongst older adults in the UK Social Innovation Problem 2 Lack of educational resources/infrastructure in developing countries. Can they be 'creatively recombined' to address each other? Yes (How?) No (Why?) Older adults can become English teachers for the young students as this would give the students a chance to practice their english speaking skills with native speakers of the language. What is the role of the older adult? Receiving help Offering help (How?) Active Ageing The role of older adults is of teachers, i.e. providers of education. In the following sections we will discuss our action research based experimentation with SIFAA aimed at transforming an incremental-physical intervention into a radical-digital one whilst contributing to our understanding of radical-digital interventions as well as the use of SIFAA in their development. Action research Action research ‘is the application of fact finding to practical problem solving with the view to improving the quality of action within it...the focus is on a specific problem in a defined context’ (). Kagan, Burton and Siddiquee see it as an ‘orientation to enquiry’ rather than a particular research method and they argue that in its simplest form, action research aims to combine the understanding, or development of theory, with action and change (). Although action research has been questioned for researchers’ impartiality (), its iterative focus on reflection and action attempts to harness its subjectively objective position as a course to problem solving (). Our research followed the five stages of action research suggested by Susman and Evered () as described below.