InfoSeniorPort

Duration: January 2023 – June 2023

Local authority action regarding senior citizens and care policy includes, amongst other things, promoting self-determined lifestyles in old age and enabling access to social participation programmes (Landsberg, 2016).

Local authorities can or do use various information channels to provide senior citizens with information (e.g. website, personal contact points, flyers) –

be that in analogue form or, increasingly, digitally in the context of digitalisation (Buhl & Frederking, 2017).

The aim of providing informal support services for senior citizens is to help maximise autonomy and social participation.

To achieve this, it is important from the perspective of those seeking support to know that appropriate channels exist and are accessible at a low threshold.

In order to achieve the best possible search results, the person searching may need to have the relevant skills, which ideally should be acquired as early as possible (e.g. dealing with digital interfaces).

Within the system, important criteria for accessing information can include assisting searches (e.g. suggesting search terms), presenting information suitably for the target group, and a high level of error tolerance (e.g. correcting incorrect input) as people search and find information.

This sub-project takes a closer look at the channels that a specific local authority provides for care-related information.

The target groups are senior citizens and other relevant groups of people (e.g. family carers). The aim of this project is to create a typology of the local authority’s analogue and digital information channels.

The results of this project form the basis for further related projects, which aim to identify information gaps and derive corresponding recommendations.