Sozial ausgegrenzte Ältere Menschen: Stimmen und Erfahrungen

As populations age, the social connectedness (Haslam et al. 2015) and social exclusion of older adults (Walsh et al. 2017; Burholt et al. 2019) are being increasingly recognised as key determinants of health and wellbeing in later life. Enhancing social participation is therefore a central component of the Active Ageing framework (WHO 2002, Douglas et al. 2016). However, despite the growth in research on social exclusion of older adults (Steptoe et al., 2013), the voices of socially-excluded older adults and their experiences remain absent from health policy discourses (Hofmarcher & Quentin 2013) and research (Kammerer et al.2019). This can become particularly problematic during times of crises, as exemplified by the COVID-19pandemic: Measures introduced by governments to protect older adults might have adverse effects on their health and wellbeing, especially regarding exclusion from social relations (Brooks et al., 2020). Hence, there is acritical need to ensure that newly-developed policies and services remain relevant and accessible to the diverse needs of older adults (WHO 2011), including during such times of crisis. Applying a citizen science approach in order to gain insights from SEOAs on their gendered experiences of in- and exclusion from social relations and facilitate their voices is an innovative approach that will contribute to navigating research and policy towards more inclusive and adequate designs. Hypotheses/research questions/objectives The research program has three objectives: 1: Capture experiences, expectations and needs of socially-excluded older adults, unpacking the role of life events, practices and gendered norms in the construction of in- and exclusion from social relations in later life; 2: Facilitate and advance ways for socially-excluded older adults to express their voices, thereby empowering them and their self-advocacy;3: Harness learning from socially-excluded older adults to develop policy and research recommendations. Given the research focus on socially-excluded older adults, the methodology must consider potential obstacles that might emerge (e.g. literacy issues, digital exclusion). Therefore, the project follows a participant-voice framework to include marginalised populations in multi-stakeholder research processes (Fitzgerald & Walsh 2016). Using citizen researcher training and consultative forums, the project will provide a platform for socially-excluded older adults to co-design research tools that will help to explore gendered experiences, practices and norms associated with in- and exclusion from social relations in later life.The project’s originality is threefold, as it enables: (1) Expanding the scope of citizen science participants by engaging socially excluded older adults, who are an especially hard-to-reach population; (2) advancing ageing research insights, by including the voices of socially-excluded older adults at different stages of the research process and (3) advancing researchers’ toolkits for both citizen science and ageing research.