Health, Wellbeing and Community Involvement of Older People in Rural Scotland

Involvement in community activities offers a route to achieving one of the five "essential elements" of older people's wellbeing as identified by McCormick et. al., (2009) - that of "having a role", i.e. having a sense of purpose, belonging and value within society. This suggests that older people living within remote and rural communities would derive wellbeing benefits from participation in informal helping and volunteering. This chapter uses information from the European Union-funded O4O: Older People for Older People initiative, conducted from 2007-2010, which considered dimensions of older people's participation in remote, rural communities with the goal of encouraging and studying how older people could help other older people stay living in their own homes and communities for longer. The chapter presents quantitative evidence from a survey of people aged 55 and over in four remote Scottish communities on the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and participation in community activities. Further insights are brought from the analysis of interviews conducted with older people living within the four communities. By taking these communities as case studies, the chapter is able to comment on the relationship between participation and older people's wellbeing within the rural context.