title: Using structured observation and content analysis to explore the presence of older people in public fora in developing countries.
abstract: There is a lack of research on the everyday lives of older people in developing countries. This exploratory study used structured observation and content analysis to examine the presence of older people in public fora and considered the methods' potential for understanding older people's social integration and inclusion. Structured observation occurred of public social spaces in six cities each located in a different developing country and in one city in the United Kingdom, together with content analysis of the presence of people in newspaper pictures and on television in the selected countries. Results indicated that across all fieldwork sites and data sources, there was a low presence of older people, with women considerably less present than men in developing countries. There was variation across fieldwork sites in older people's presence by place and time of day and in their accompanied status. The presence of older people in images drawn from newspapers was associated with the news/non-news nature of the source. The utility of the study's methodological approach is considered, as is the degree to which the presence of older people in public fora might relate to social integration and inclusion in different cultural contexts.
authors.affiliation: Effective Practice Ltd., 8 Bridgetown, Totnes, Devon TQ95AB, UK.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0334-3805
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nosowska
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8795-7555
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, 791 88 Falun, Sweden ; Aging Research Centre, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Gävlegatan 16, 113 30 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7685-3216
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dahlberg