Modelling age-friendly environment for social connectedness: a cross-sectional study

The increase in aged populations in Malaysia has brought unprecedented challenges to families, policy makers, scholars, and business organisations. This paper adapted the WHO 2007 framework of features of age-friendly cities to examine age-friendly environment constructs and their linkages with social connectedness from the perspective of Malaysian middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves. Methods: A face-to-face cross-sectional survey was conducted on 402 middle-aged and older adults caring for themselves across selected states in west Malaysia, selected via purposive sampling. Firstly, features of age-friendly cities were explored through exploratory factor analysis involving 82 respondents. Subsequently, structural equation modelling was performed, involving 320 respondents