Project
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Funded by Economic and Social Research Council.
Collaboration with Active Stirling Ltd, Generations Working Together, Heriot-Watt University, UK Active, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds and University of Plymouth.
Older people’s ‘connectivities’—their links with community, resources and meaningful activities— are essential to health and well-being. Developing and strengthening these connections are intrinsic to supporting healthy ageing and reducing health inequalities in later life (Hennessy et. al., 2014). Both social connectivity and increasingly, digital connectivity, are pillars of what we here term ‘health connectivity’, or an individual’s links to supports for health and well-being. How we can design, test, deliver and evaluate digital resources for health connectivity in older age is the focus of this proposed research programme. The 3-year project, a collaboration between the Universities of Stirling and Plymouth, will facilitate improvements to the health and well-being of disadvantaged older people, particularly those facing digital inequalities due to physical, cognitive, or geographic barriers exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will do so by enhancing our understanding of health connectivity, and the interaction between the social, behavioural and design aspects of using digital solutions to support physical activity and social engagement with others. Co-production between older people, younger people (intergenerational activities), researchers and businesses will be largely online and will focus on issues such as usability and accessibility of digital means for joint activities, games or discussions (e.g., physical activity and sports reminiscence). This will enable the testing, trialling and implementation of new and existing technologies in rural Cornwall and Scotland, and evaluation of their impact on health connectivity, resulting in more people living independently for longer as well as research and development-led economic growth.
Total award value £1,618,597.37
Professor of Ageing, Faculty of Social Sciences
Professor, Education
Professor, Communications, Media and Culture
Professor, Health Sciences Stirling
Professor of Behavioural Medicine, Sport
Lecturer in Exercise Physiology, Sport
Professor of Behavioural Medicine, Sport
Preprint / Working Paper
Jones RB, Cooper L, Bradwell H, Shore CB, Tomaz SA, Ritchie J, Whittaker AC, Haynes R, Hennessy C & GOALD project (2025) Toolkits for developing digital platforms to help older people stay physically or socially active produced through codesign workshops: real-world impact assessment through 10 case studies. (Preprint). JMIR Preprints. https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.64222
Conference Paper (published)
Bradwell HL, Cooper L, Baxter R, Tomaz S, Edwards KJ, Whittaker AC & Jones RB (2024) Implementation of Virtual Reality Motivated Physical Activity via Omnidirectional Treadmill in a Supported Living Facility for Older Adults: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation.: Virtual reality to motivate physical activity for older adults. In: CHI '24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI '24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu HI USA, 11.05.2024-16.05.2024. New York: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642281
Article
Tomaz SA, Taylor L, Ryde GC, Bradwell HL, Cooper L, Coffee P, Mannion G, Hennessy C, Haynes R, Whittaker AC & GOALD Project (2024) Generations Active Together: An Example of Using Physical Activity Promotion and Digital Technology to Bring Together Adolescents and Older People in Stirling, Scotland. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2024.2322442
Article
Generating Older Active Lives Digitally (GOALD) Through Sport-Based Reminiscence
Haynes R, Ritchie J & Tomaz S (2023) Generating Older Active Lives Digitally (GOALD) Through Sport-Based Reminiscence. Gerontological Society of America, Tampa, Florida, USA Innovation in Aging, 7 (Supplement_1), p. 669. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igad104.2176
Article
Bradwell pL, Cooper L, Edwards KJ, Baxter R, Tomaz SA, Ritchie J, Gaudl S, Veliz-Reyes A, Ryde GC, Križaj T, Warren A, Chatterjee A, Haynes R, Hennessy CH & Whittaker AC (2023) Staff perceptions towards virtual reality-motivated treadmill exercise for care home residents: a qualitative feedback study with key stakeholders and follow-up interview with technology developer. BMJ Open, 13 (11), Art. No.: e073307. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073307