An ageing society brings with it increased health costs due to the prevalence of long term conditions increasing with age. It is therefore vital to support good health in older people, both to improve their quality of life and to reduce the financial implications of an ageing society. Isolation and loneliness can put people at risk of dying early, and increasing opportunities for social interaction and engagement could mitigate some of the health effects of ageing. However, this requires society to create the conditions that enable older people to participate fully. The World Health Organization's Age-Friendly Cities programme has identified factors that make urban areas Age-Friendly, but research shows that older rural dwellers have unique unmet needs preventing full engagement in their communities. This article describes a pilot project which adapted photo-elicitation to explore the age-friendliness of a rural area in Calderdale, Northern England. It shows that photo-elicitation is a successful method for identifying what older people think is important in making their community age-friendly and it reveals differences between ageing in a city and in a rural setting. This rich data can be used to inform the development of policy in rural areas which is more closely aligned to the needs, preferences and interests of the growing population of older residents. The project also demonstrates the engagement potential of this methodology. Participants continued as co-researchers, learning new skills and taking responsibility for a variety of dissemination activities such as photographic exhibitions, a public report and presentations. This suggests that adapted photo-elicitation is a useful tool for engaging older people in research.

由于随着年龄的增长而长期患病，老龄化社会带来了健康成本的增加。因此，支持老年人的健康至关重要，这既可以提高他们的生活质量，也可以减少老龄化社会的财务影响。孤立和孤独会使人们面临早逝的风险，而增加社交互动和参与的机会可以减轻老龄化对健康的一些影响。然而，这需要社会创造条件，使老年人能够充分参与。世界卫生组织的老年友好城市计划已经确定了使城市地区老年友好的因素，但研究表明，老年农村居民有独特的未满足需求，妨碍他们充分参与社区。本文描述了一个试点项目，该项目采用照片启发来探索英格兰北部卡尔德代尔农村地区的老年友好性。它表明，照片启发是一种成功的方法，可以确定老年人认为哪些因素对使他们的社区对老年人友好很重要，并且它揭示了城市和农村环境中老龄化之间的差异。这些丰富的数据可用于为农村地区政策的制定提供信息，这些政策更符合老年人口不断增长的需求、偏好和利益。该项目还展示了这种方法的参与潜力。参与者继续作为共同研究人员，学习新技能并负责各种传播活动，例如摄影展览、公开报告和演示。