VeWoLA (RIGL)

Living a self-determined life into old age is not only the wish of many senior citizens, but also a central demographic policy objective. The majority of people spend their old age in good health. Nevertheless, the increasing life expectancy of the population as a whole goes hand in hand with an increase in the need for assistance and care. Personal and family resources are not always able to absorb the resulting need for support, which increases the importance of alternative care, housing and catering concepts in regional responsibility. Urban and rural areas face very different, but equally urgent challenges.

Household-related services and needs-based offers of food and meal provision, digital and technical assistance systems, as well as housing concepts tailored to target groups, can make an important contribution to ensuring a high degree of self-determination and thus quality of life in old age. In recent years, a large number of corresponding approaches have been researched and developed - also at Fulda University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the present project is to transfer sustainable and needs-oriented care, living and catering concepts into practice, to evaluate them and to develop them further in close cooperation with regional actors. In view of the increasing shift in income relations, it is important to consider both economic and social premises.

The VeWoLA project consists of three sub-projects:

Sub-project I "Catering" focuses on the optimisation of regional catering and meal distribution concepts, taking into account nutritional and social needs.

Sub-project II "Housing" aims in particular at the development of implementation strategies for regional supply and housing concepts with the inclusion of digital assistance technologies.

Sub-project III "Senior Citizen Science" focuses on the further development of methods of participatory citizen participation and the expansion of participatory network structures.

Within the framework of an iterative research and transfer design, an intensive exchange of knowledge and experience between science and practice is to be ensured. The project includes household and situation analyses, strength-weakness analyses of different care concepts, pilot and usability tests in different settings (private households, neighbourhoods as well as outpatient and inpatient facilities for senior citizens) and longitudinal observational studies to evaluate selected measures. A special focus is on the application of participation methods, especially with regard to the target group of older people.