The Ecological Model of Aging is the foundation of the Sacramento County Aging and Disability-Friendly Action Plan. This framework is used to design age-friendly communities through policies that support adult independence, interdependence, and well-being.
The Ecological Model of Aging model presents a holistic approach to human life. It views individuals and communities as part of a larger, interconnected ecosystem. Human well-being co-exists with the health and dynamics of the broader environment: natural ecosystems, economic and social systems, and the built environment.
How humans interact with their environment changes over time. A person’s quality of life is impacted by either a change to their own personal capacity, or a change in the capacity of the environment to support them. Creating “habitats for humanity,” where people can adapt the environment to better meet their needs, will lead to better aging outcomes.
The Local Aging and Disability-Friendly Action Plan uses the Ecological Model of Aging as a logic model. The model helps us visualize the specific outcomes expected from a given solution, and how to measure them.
Two useful theories of change have emerged from the Ecological Model of Aging. One comes from the World Health Organization (WHO). It identifies the eight core characteristics of an age-friendly community. The WHO advances the quality of life of a community through the status of those eight domains. AARP adopted the same logic model for its U.S. Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. A second logic model is the California Master Plan for Aging (MPA). Instead of eight domains, it uses five bold goals for its theory of change.
Logic models and theories of change offer us a general view of how to change entire systems, but we still need to understand what we want to change. To find out, we spoke with county residents, caregivers, and service providers.
The unmet needs identified by community input helped anchor the recommendations in this action plan. We initially characterized the unmet needs using AARP’s eight domains of livability, then further refined them to align with the MPA's five bold goals. We have recommended solutions in this Action Plan that meet all the following four criteria:
Solutions that impact the entire community or ecosystem.
Solutions that can produce a substantial improvement in the lives of residents.
Solutions that can be achieved with available resources.
Solutions that address the unmet needs identified by county residents, caregivers, and service providers.
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