title: Age-Friendly Communities Initiative: Public Health Approach to Promoting Successful Aging.
abstract: Older adults consistently prefer aging in place, which requires a high level of community support and services that are currently lacking. With a rapidly aging population, the present infrastructure for healthcare will prove even more inadequate to meet seniors' physical and mental health needs. A paradigm shift away from the sole focus on delivery of interventions at an individual level to more prevention-focused, community-based approaches will become essential. Recent initiatives have been proposed to promote healthy lifestyles and preventive care to enable older adults to age in place. Prominent among these are the World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) Network, with 287 communities in 33 countries, and AARP's Network of AFCs with 77 communities in the United States. In an AFC, older adults are actively involved, valued, and supported with necessary infrastructure and services. Specific criteria include affordable housing, safe outdoor spaces and built environments conducive to active living, inexpensive and convenient transportation options, opportunities for social participation and community leadership, and accessible health and wellness services. Active, culture-based approaches, supported and developed by local communities, and including an intergenerational component are important. This article provides a brief historical background, discusses the conceptualization of the AFC, offers a list of criteria, narrates case studies of AFCs in various stages of development, and suggests solutions to common challenges to becoming age-friendly. Academic geriatric psychiatry needs to play a major role in the evolving AFC movement to ensure that mental healthcare is considered and delivered on par with physical care.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA; Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, University of California, San Diego, CA. Electronic address: djeste@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Dilip V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Jeste
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Dan G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Blazer
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; College of Nursing, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK.
authors.forename: Kathleen C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Buckwalter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Keri-Leigh K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Len
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fishman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Lisa P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Gwyther
authors.affiliation: The American Psychiatric Association, Arlington, VA.
authors.forename: Saul M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research into Ageing, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Phillipson
authors.affiliation: Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA; Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, University of California, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Ramesh R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: San Diego Aging and Independence Services, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schmeding
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventative Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Family Medicine, School of Gerontology, School of Social Work, USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA; Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, University of California, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Avanzino
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA; Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, University of California, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Danielle K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Glorioso
authors.affiliation: Grantmakers in Aging, Arlington, VA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feather
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004779:Environment Design; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D016852:Housing for the Elderly; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D014186:Transportation
keywords: Age-friendly communities; housing; leadership; mental health; social engagement