Panel Presentation - Aging between places: Including older adults in a process

Increasingly people are today experiencing geographical mobility in later life, characterized by international or national migration as well as simply moving from home to institution. This mobility can be the result of active choice or to different degrees against ones will, fundamentally challenging conventional ideas about aging in place. Conceptual arguments for addressing the concept of ‘place’, as dynamically created and negotiated through occupations, has been proposed as relevant in research addressing aging today (Johansson et al., 2012). The authors of this paper argue for the need to highlight the importance of exploring experiences at the intersection of migration and aging through an occupational lens, focusing on situations among people who have moved between and negotiated places while actively (re)creating identities through occupations (Huot & Rudman, 2010; Nayar, Hocking, & Giddings, 2011). Voices among older adults who are negotiating a sense of liminality from being between places (between countries or between home and institution), many times are unheard. Participatory research (Suarez-Balcazar & Harper, 2003; Wang & Burris, 1997) that builds on ideas of ownership, sustainability, and authenticity can serve as appropriate in this context: (1) members in a project are empowered to be actively engaged throughout the research process, (2) community partners and project members acquire competencies to continue the work when researchers are no longer on site, and (3) voices of project members are not solely represented by researchers in scholarly publications, but also fed directly back into local practices through potential programs developed. The aim of this panel will be to draw on examples from older adults experiences of being between places in making an argument for participatory research designs in occupational science. The authors will critically examining challenges from the field, putting particular focus on the inherent fit between foundations of occupational science and participatory methods