title: What community characteristics help or hinder rural communities in becoming age-friendly? Perspectives from a Canadian prairie province.
abstract: Age-friendly initiatives are increasingly promoted as a policy solution to healthy aging, The primary objective of this article was to examine older adults' and key stakeholders' perceptions of the factors that either help or hinder a community from becoming age-friendly in the context of rural Manitoba, a Canadian prairie province. Twenty-four older adults and 17 key informants completed a qualitative interview. The findings show that contextual factors including size, location, demographic composition, ability to secure investments, and leadership influence rural communities' ability to become age-friendly. Government must consider the challenges these communities face in becoming more age-friendly and develop strategies to support communities.
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada johnspina@shaw.ca.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spina
authors.affiliation: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
authors.forename: Verena H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Menec
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008350:Manitoba; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification*; D012424:Rural Population
keywords: age-friendliness; qualitative analysis; rural communities