From the abstract:
The term “creative aging,” in the broadest sense, describes an aging policy idea that focuses on highlighting the creativity of older adults in order to prepare individuals and communities to manage old age. Programs focus on the evolution of creativity over the lifespan and aim to provide meaningful participatory engagement, especially through the arts.
From the abstract:
Social entrepreneurship is usually understood as an economic activity which focuses at social values, goals, and investments that generates surpluses for social entrepreneurs as individuals, groups, and startups who are working for the benefit of communities, instead of strictly focusing mainly at the financial profit, economic values, and the benefit generated for shareholders or owners. Social entrepreneurship combines the production of goods, services, and knowledge in order to achieve both social and economic goals and allow for solidarity building.
From a broader perspective, entities that are focused on social entrepreneurship are identified as parts of the social and solidarity economy. These are, for example, social enterprises, cooperatives, mutual organizations, self-help groups, charities, unions, fair trade companies, community enterprises, and time banks. Social innovation is a key element of social entrepreneurship.
Social innovation is usually understood as new strategies, concepts, products, services, and organizational forms that allow for the satisfaction of needs. Such innovations are created in particular in the contact areas of various sectors of the social system. For example, these are spaces between the public sector, the private sector, and civil society. These innovations not only allow the solving of problems but also extend possibilities for public action.
This report on ACIT (an intergenerational art-technology program) discusses the development, implementation and evaluation of a university based initiative designed to use art to promote individual older adults’ health, well-being, and social connectedness. College students worked with participants to create interactive art that integrated paper-based electronic circuits into various art forms such as ornaments and light-up greeting cards. The project was specifically designed to address older adult needs. It was somewhat unusual in the focus on development of both art and technology skills, with support from young people, as an approach to improving the health and quality of life for older adults. The relatively small number of subjects (18) allowed for in-depth quantitative and qualitative evaluation.
This article reports on a randomized control study of the effects of a Community of Voices choir intervention on the “health, well-being and health care costs of racial/ethnically diverse” adults 60 years and older. Sixty-five (65%) of study participants were non-white. Researchers examined an array of outcomes including “physical, cognitive and psychosocial aspects of health.” Findings suggest intervention group members experienced significant reductions in loneliness and increased interest in life.