A conceptual model of community participation of middle-aged and older people based on interview data from China

Abstract

Urban and rural planning and development are embedded in the community. How to encourage the community to participate in them is key to community governance, and middle-aged and older people are key to the community governance process. This study aimed to investigate the main factors affecting the participation of middle-aged and older people in the community to formulate effective measures to encourage participation. Based on interview data from residents of Taiyuan City and grounded theory, this paper introduces a conceptual model of community participation of middle-aged and older people from three aspects: the participants, the public facilities and the activities themselves. The results show that: (1) functional needs are the most important for middle-aged and older people, and improving facilities can positively promote their community participation; (2) at the level of the participants themselves, the construction of interpersonal networks motivates them to participate in their community; (3) the community participation of middle-aged and older people operates at two levels: autonomous participation and cooperative participation.

Keywords

• community participation
• middle-aged and older people
• grounded theory