BU to study older people's quality of life

24 July 2009

BU researchers are taking part in the UK’s largest study of the quality of life of older people, thanks to a £400,000 grant.

Researchers from across three academic Schools have secured over £400,000 in funding to take part in the UK’s largest study of the quality of life of older people.

In a series of interdisciplinary studies, academics from our School of Health & Social Care, The Media School and the School of Conservation Sciences are working with colleagues from Plymouth, University of West of England and Cardiff Universities to investigate how older people living in rural South West England and Wales interact with their local community, and what social and economic issues are important to them.

Entitled Grey and Pleasant Land?: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Connectivity of Older People in Rural Civic Society, the three-year study is one of a number being undertaken under the ‘New Dynamics of Ageing’ programme. This seven-year research initiative is a unique collaboration between five UK Research Councils - ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC and AHRC - and is the largest and most ambitious research programme on ageing ever mounted in the UK.

Professor Kathleen Galvin, Deputy Dean of our School of Health & Social Care said: “We are pleased to be involved in such a large-scale initiative, a first for Bournemouth. This collaborative grant ensures that the issues important to older people living in rural areas are no longer overlooked. The South West and Wales will be at the forefront of exploring the social and economic issues of this group for the nation, Europe and beyond.”

Professor Les Todres, Director of the Centre for Qualitative Research with our School of Health & Social Care, added: “One of the issues we want to address is how to increase the range of options for older people to engage with and, in turn, improve their wellbeing, which has up to now, been narrowly defined and biased towards younger people in rural areas.”

Dr Kip Jones, Reader in Qualitative Research at the Centre for Qualitative Research and The Media School, will lead projects valued at nearly £360,000 to examine perceptions of rural living among older residents, particularly those who feel disengaged. These studies will use qualitative and arts-based methods to increase our understanding of the lives of older people in remote rural areas. Outcomes will demonstrate how film and performance can connect citizens through audience participation.

The team which includes Drs Kip Jones, Rosie Read and Lee Ann Fenge will listen to the life stories of gay and lesbian older adults living in rural South West England or Wales. Citizen panels will then create a script based upon the stories for a widely distributed, professional film. Dr Jones explained: “Gay and lesbian older adults too often are invisible; combined with rural living, these individuals are particularly vulnerable to isolation.”

In a second BU project receiving approximately £75,000 in funding from the Research Councils, Professors Kathleen Galvin and Les Todres will work with Professor Graham Parkhurst from the University of West England to explore with older people their mobility and physical activity and determine how this has an impact on their quality of life.

A third research strand from the School of Conservation Sciences Centre for Archaeology, Anthropology and Heritage, based in our School of Conservation Sciences, will investigate older people’s participation in and contributions to cultural and leisure activities in rural areas.

Biographical accounts of older people’s participation in cultural and leisure activities will be collected by team members from Bournemouth and Plymouth Universities. Yvette Staelens and Avril Silk from the School will use oral history methods to collect 'cultural histories' from forty older gypsies in Devon and Somerset, England. The outputs of this research will provide the material for a community-based touring museum exhibition created, designed and curated by BU MA Museum Studies Students in 2010.

Yvette Staelens notes: “This research embraces a hidden cultural heritage within the English landscape. It will enable students to work with intangible cultural heritage and to deliver a unique output that exemplifies BU’s cutting-edge approach to new museum agendas and real community engagement.”