Background: Most studies on older adults' vitality focus on linear connections between determinants and outcomes. To design more comprehensive and impactful approaches to support the vitality of older adults, a better understanding of the interplay among elements that shape their vitality is necessary. Objective: To uncover the underlying dynamic system that drives vitality in older adults, drawing directly from older adults' perspectives. Methods: During three group model-building sessions with 10–12 older adults (≥ 55 years old), a causal loop diagram with relevant feedback loops was developed through co-creation with older adults. The construction and analysis of the causal loop diagram were facilitated using the online modelling tools Vensim and Kumu. The group model-building sessions were guided by Scriptapedia, an online guide to conducting group model-building practices. Results: The final CLD consisted of 15 elements contributing to older adults' vitality, organised into three themes: ‘Psychological and emotional elements’, ‘Social connections and support’ and ‘Lifestyle and habits’. A total of 41 reinforcing feedback loops were identified, with 21 involving all three themes, 15 connecting two themes and 5 within a single theme. Conclusions: This study displays the complex interplay of elements influencing older adults' vitality, highlighting the critical roles of psychological, social and lifestyle-related elements. The participatory-led approach yielded co-produced insights that inform public health strategies, underscoring the need for comprehensive, multidisciplinary approaches to promote older adults' vitality. Such approaches must offer social opportunities and foster individuals' capacity and motivation to engage in meaningful social relationships. Patient or Public Contribution: The study was conducted in collaboration with a municipal policymaker and a coordinator of local community centres, who provided input on participant recruitment, materials, data interpretation, ethical considerations and result dissemination. During data collection, twelve older adults participated in three group model-building sessions, collaboratively developing a causal loop diagram to explore elements of vitality and their interconnections. Ongoing member checking with participants throughout the process ensured the analysis was refined and the researchers' interpretations were validated.
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An example for the development of a potential Minimum Data Set (MDS) within the Urban Vitality (UV) themes ‘Gezond ouder worden / Mensen in Beweging’. The goal is to ensure more uniform collection of outcome measures, based on FAIR principles (ref 1), and to facilitate reuse of data and analyses spanning multiple studies. This prototype MDS is based on The Older Persons and Informal Caregivers Survey Minimum DataSet (TOPICS-MDS) (ref 2), the project FAIR: geen woorden maar data (ref 3) in which we examined 14 UV-studies about ageing and frailty of elderly, and the set of common data elements for rare disease registration (ref 4).
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Report of the project 'FAIR: geen woorden maar data' about the FAIRification of research data (in Dutch). It describes the proof of concept for implementation of the FAIR principles. The implementation is based on the resource description framework (RDF) and semantic knowledge representations using ontologies.
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As the Dutch population is aging, the field of music-in-healthcare keeps expanding. Healthcare, institutionally and at home, is multiprofessional and demands interprofessional collaboration. Musicians are sought-after collaborators in social and healthcare fields, yet lesser-known agents of this multiprofessional group. Although live music supports social-emotional wellbeing and vitality, and nurtures compassionate care delivery, interprofessional collaboration between musicians, social work, and healthcare professionals remains marginal. This limits optimising and integrating music-making in the care. A significant part of this problem is a lack of collaborative transdisciplinary education for music, social, and healthcare students that deep-dives into the development of interprofessional skills. To meet the growing demand for musical collaborations by particularly elderly care organisations, and to innovate musical contributions to the quality of social and healthcare in Northern Netherlands, a transdisciplinary education for music, physiotherapy, and social work studies is needed. This project aims to equip multiprofessional student groups of Hanze with interprofessional skills through co-creative transdisciplinary learning aimed at innovating and improving musical collaborative approaches for working with vulnerable, often older people. The education builds upon experiential learning in Learning LABs, and collaborative project work in real-life care settings, supported by transdisciplinary community forming.The expected outcomes include a new concept of a transdisciplinary education for HBO-curricula, concrete building blocks for a transdisciplinary arts-in-health minor study, innovative student-led approaches for supporting the care and wellbeing of (older) vulnerable people, enhanced integration of musicians in interprofessional care teams, and new interprofessional structures for educational collaboration between music, social work and healthcare faculties.
