Examining collaboration across organizations in an age-friendly community

ABSTRACT

Collaboration among organizations is fundamental to promoting age-friendly environments. This study questions: To what extent do organizations collaborate with other organizations in age-friendly communities to provide services to older adults? This study draws on 48 semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives of organizations that provide services to older adults in an age-friendly community. Findings demonstrated that organizations can engage in collaboration and cooperation across multiple sectors of service delivery and across multiple types of organizations. Nevertheless, some organizations were not collaborating; older adults receiving services at these organizations may miss opportunities to connect to complementary services that can meet their holistic needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Age-friendly communities
• systems of care
• integration
• collaboration
• older adults

Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without support from RTI International. Researchers from RTI designed a study of organizations that provide resources and interventions for individuals 65 years or over in Sarasota County. Researchers collaborated with the Institute for the Ages in Sarasota County, which officially endorsed this study. They developed the semi-structured interview protocol and supplemental materials (e.g., personalized lead and endorsement letters). They also designed the sampling approach and secured institutional review board approval from RTI’s Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects. I would like to thank Project Director, Paul Pulliam, who allowed me to become one of the core researchers on the project team and provided permission to use these data for this research. I would also like to thank the core team of researchers who participated in the data collection and preliminary coding including: Christine Carr, Ariana Napier, and Jessica Williams.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the RTI International .