Do You Think Chicago is Age Friendly?

CHICAGO --- Researchers at Northwestern University’s Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society are working with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who secured Chicago’s membership in the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities in 2011, to find out just how age-friendly Chicago is.

As part of an ongoing study, research leaders Rebecca Johnson and Amy Eisenstein, from the department of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, are inviting all older adults living in Chicago to participate in a community-wide survey.

The survey should take between 10 and 15 minutes to complete, participants may skip any questions they do not wish to answer and responses are kept anonymous.

In August 2013, Age-Friendly researchers completed phase 1 of the baseline assessment to support City planning to maintain its Age-Friendly status. Phase 2 of the assessment is ongoing and includes an environmental scan of global age-friendly indicators, interviews with 40 key stakeholders across Chicago’s public and private sectors and the dissemination of the current “Age-Friendly Chicago” survey.

Further analysis of both the qualitative and quantitative data from phase 2 will help to inform the development of a citywide Age-Friendly Chicago action plan in 2015. The project ends September 2014.