Focus group suggests TV-shows and beauty contests for elderly

January 25, 2012

Beauty contests, self-defense and TV-shows for elderly were some of the suggestions that came up when Active for Life brought together 60 persons between the age of 55 and 70 to gather ideas about wellbeing services in the future. Persons from Denmark, Lithuania, Finland, Germany and Sweden were connected through videoconferencing for “The Future of Wellbeing services” signal session last Friday.

In Norrköping, Sweden, Anders Carlsson from New Tools for Health led the session with the Swedish focus group.

- A lot of things are happening in Brussels this year, since it is the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, said Anders Carlsson.

The group was asked to focus their discussion on some of the twelve suggested concepts for future wellbeing service solutions. These had been gathered by the Active for Life team based on the needs of the Baltic Sea region retired population and dealt with issues like sports, mentoring and realizing your dreams.

One woman in Sweden told the story about an 80 year old woman that went to the gym for the first time, when they organized a cycling session for seniors.

- The first time she needed help from two persons only to get up on the bike and she had to train without any weight at all. But after half a year she could both get on the bike and cycle with weight without any problem and she was so much fitter.

This story made the group discuss the marketing of gyms and that elderly should be recognized as a target group that can use the gym at times when almost no other customers can.

A man from Lithuania stressed that the most important resource that elderly have is time. This resource could be used in many different ways and areas. The expertise of this age group can be used in research, for teaching and taking care of kids and for offering tourist guiding in specialized fields.

- Since we have plenty of free time, we also have time for amusement. There could be special TV-shows and beauty competitions for mature people, said a woman from Lithuania.

After half a day of good discussions Hugo Tamagnini Gonçalves, project leader of Active for Life, concluded that it would be a good idea to create an advisory board made up by representatives of the project target group in order to continue sharing the results and brainstorming over the project’s next steps with real end-users. Active for Life is a part of StarDust, a project with the overall objective to find new answers for societal challenges that the people around the Baltic Sea are facing. StarDust is co-financed by the European Union’s Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013, which promotes regional development through transnational cooperation.

For more information about Active for Life contact:
Hugo Tamagnini Gonçalves, Culminatum Innovation Oy Ltd, email: hugo.goncalves(a)culminatum.fi, phone: + 358 45 119 94 10