From Working Life to Senior Life: Prepare Well
The purpose of the project is to help more citizens to experience their senior life with a high quality of life and well-being. Furthermore, the aim is to develop and test concepts for senior guidance to promote mental and physical well-being among 58- to 69-year-old individuals in and outside the labor market. The project is based on 10 years of research from the Centre for Healthy Aging.
The project is a partnership between Vordingborg Municipality, Vejle Municipality, Aarhus Municipality, and the University of Copenhagen. The partnership has been established to develop joint, evidence-based initiatives that strengthen citizens in the transition from working life to senior life.
The partnership is the framework for multiple local activities, and the collaboration ensures that experiences is shared and new initiatives are launched in close dialogue and based on tested methods. The partnership continuously shares knowledge and closely works together to develop models and proven concepts that can also be implemented in other geographical and social contexts.
According to figures from Statistics Denmark, approximately 40,000 people are granted the status of old-age pensioner each year. Additionally, both research and practical experience indicate that the transition from working life to retirement can be a landmark and life-changing event for many people. A new co-creation project will, in close dialogue and collaboration with citizens in the municipalities of Vordingborg, Vejle, and Aarhus, gather knowledge and develop models that can support smooth transitions, show the way to new communities, and promote quality of life.
The goal of the project is to find new ways to enable more citizens to relate consciously and actively to the last years of the labor market and how best to approach senior life. The target group of the project comprises citizens with no or little education.
The project builds on the partners’ research and practice-based knowledge and aims to engage and involve the target group of the project in new ways. That is, among other aspects, representatives of the target group will have a central role in ensuring the citizen perspective and co-developing project initiatives throughout the project period.
The project design is based on the improvement model, in which experience and involvement are developed step by step and on the basis of the lessons learnt.
- Sys Skive, Head of Prevention and Rehabilitation, Vordingborg Municipality, ssk@vordingborg.dk
- Uffe Nymark Breum, Head of Health Promotion and Prevention; Vejle Municipality, UFNBR@vejle.dk
- Susanne Brøchner Væring, Head of Volunteer Centres, Aarhus Municipality, suvae@aarhus.dk
Researchers
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aabo, Marie Gorm | PhD Fellow | ||
| Jespersen, Astrid Pernille | Professor |
Rasmussen, Lene Juel
Johansen, Emilie
Sten Pedersen, Thomas
Bloch-Ibenfeldt, Mads
Funding
The project is supported by Nordea Foundation
PI: Astrid Jespersen
Project period: 1 May 2020–30 April 2023