Developing the organizational competencies to promote American elders' civic engagement

Abstract

The U.S. is now experiencing an unprecedented growth in its older population. In order to reduce the adverse effects of population aging, older adults’ civic engagement has been a recent focus in the field of aging. A considerable body of literature has documented the significance, current status, positive outcomes, and influencing factors of American elders’ civic engagement. However, there are very few studies, if any, that adopt an organizational competency perspective to explore the promotion of older adults’ participation in civic activities. To fill the current research gap, the dissertation aims to help formal organizations identify and develop necessary competencies to better engage American elders through two inquiries. The first inquiry is a mixed methods systematic literature review which included 19 quantitative studies, two qualitative studies, and one mixed methods study. Through meta-summary, six themes and 28 factors related to American elders’ civic engagement were generated. These themes encompassed socio-demographic factors (eight factors), health status (four factors), program characteristics (four factors), engagement opportunities (three factors), engagement outcomes (five factors), and social capital (four factors). Formal organizations are advised to develop relevant competencies to capture the beneficial influences of facilitating factors and minimize the adverse impact of obstructive factors. The second inquiry aims to develop and validate an Organizational Competency Scale (OCS) for elder civic engagement programs. 32 formal organizations and pertinent programs in the State of Texas participated in the pilot study. Factor analyses of the data collected from these organizations revealed a seven-factor solution for the OCS. These factors included client discovery with support, client-centered planning and management, client assessment and training, integration of diverse groups, promotion of adaptation between groups, integration of resources to address the structural constraints, and promotion of social recognition and social justice. As a reliable and valid scale, the OCS can serve as both an assessment tool and practice guidelines for formal organizations to evaluate and develop their competencies to increase American elders’ civic engagement.