Designing an Age-Friendly Neighborhood Volunteering System – Design Requirements, Principles and Features

Many industrialized countries are facing the challenges of an aging society. To enable older people to live a dignified and self-determined life, high expenses often arise in terms of nursing and care. At the same time, in the field of volunteering, there is a shift from long-term involvement in aid organizations to the willingness of large parts of the population to engage in short-term volunteering. In this paper, we address both phenomena by presenting a design theory, consisting of requirements and principles, for the development of systems for mediating volunteer activities in residential settings. The design theory was developed using qualitative methods in collaboration with the two user groups of volunteers and elders help-seekers. A methodologically sound evaluation based on a first demonstrator gives indications of the usefulness of appropriately developed systems.