Ageing in Place in later older age

Presented by Dr Kate Gibson, lecturer in Social Science and Ageing at the Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, UK.

Kate Gibson is a lecturer in Social Science and Ageing at the Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, UK. With a background in sociology, she has led qualitative research across multidisciplinary teams on a range of topics including ageing in place, the health and wellbeing of older people, food and identity, care, and social prescribing. Her work draws on a range of qualitative approaches, with a particular interest in using ethnographic methods to understand health and social inequalities.

Ageing in Place in later older age: insights from North East England

As populations age worldwide and most older adults continue to live in their own homes, supporting ‘ageing in place’ – remaining at home and connected to the community – has become an international policy priority.

Drawing on longitudinal qualitative research conducted with 46 older adults (aged 80 - 100+) in North East England, Kate will explore and situate participants’ lived experiences of ageing in place in a broader social, economic and political context. She will demonstrate the central importance of home to this older cohort, even when health and mobility challenges rendered this difficult. The seminar will explore how participants navigated these difficulties, showing how access to resources (such as economic capital and available social networks) enabled them to create age-friendly living environments.

Kate will argue that for ageing in place to be a meaningful and equitable policy goal, it must recognise and account for the social, economic and cultural conditions that influence older adults’ ability to do so. Without this recognition, such policies risk exacerbating widening inequalities in later life.

For more information, see the event brochure here.

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