Objectives: With the rise of age-friendly cities and communities, increasing attention is being paid to coproducing age-friendly guidelines with older people and community stakeholders. Little is known however about age-friendly guidelines for dining establishments.
Methods: A three-stage study to develop general and contextualised requirements for an age-friendly dining experience was conducted in the City of Onkaparinga, South Australia. The first stage involved older people in co-designing aspects of an age-friendly dining experience. Subsequently, the second and third stage coproduced, trialed and evaluated age-friendly initiatives with two dining venues.
Results: Through co-design, seven domains of an age-friendly dining experience were identified (Menu, Affordability, Dementia Awareness, Venue, Feeling Welcome, Special Offerings and Assistance), alongside an overarching desire for a 'meaningful' dining experience. Differences in health and socioeconomic status of diners underpinned the differences needed to ensure an age-friendly dining experience and highlight the importance of contextualisation for the local population. The trial demonstrated positive outcomes for both older diners and venues.
Discussion: The environment, value and logistics of dining out are important to older people when making choices about dining in the community. The elements of an age-friendly dining experience presented in this study are a useful starting point for contextualisation to other local settings.
Keywords: aged; cities; environment design; healthy aging; social environment; social inclusion.
© 2022 Australian Health Promotion Association.