Breadcrumbs
National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre
Improved health care, better information and a safer living environment mean that Australians are living longer than ever before. Average life expectancy in Australia will reach 92 years for women and 88 years for men by 2050. For many this is a frightening statistic which raises concerns about ill health, dependency and economic decline.
However there is an alternative perspective that views the ageing of the population not as a burden, but as an opportunity. Dependency is not inevitable with many Seniors continuing to live active socially and economically productive lifestyles.
Productive ageing promotes the choices and capacities of Australians, as they age, to engage in valued activities through work, learning, volunteering and community activities.
In 2002, the National Seniors Association, in partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and the University of the Sunshine Coast, established the National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre (NSPAC).
Passion, growth, experience
The key aim of NSPAC is to promote productive ageing lifestyles. A productive ageing lifestyle can be summarised in three words:
- Passion: embracing the future with optimism
- Growth: taking the opportunity to branch out into new interests and activities, and
- Experience: learning from the past but not living in it.
NSPAC promotes and researches into productive ageing by listening to Seniors and their concerns, researching into ways that seniors contribute to society and the economy, and communicating the results of this research to seniors, policy makers and the public.
The Centre is a corporate entity in its own right, and is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. It is governed by a Board of Directors and advised by the Research and Education Advisory Committee. The University of the Sunshine Coast is represented on both these bodies.
NSPAC research
Two principles underpin the NSPAC research:
- consumer focus – our philosophy is to conduct research with Seniors, not on Seniors by involving Seniors at all stages of the research process from initial project concepts through to the conduct and evaluation of research, and
- policy orientation – our research adds to the debate on ageing policy issues by providing quality evidence to positively influence governments to provide better lifestyles for Seniors
NSPAC conducts independent research but also works collaboratively with researchers nationwide through its grants program, collaborative research projects, internships and research student supervisions.
NSPAC projects
A diverse range of projects have been undertaken by the Centre and its collaborators including:
- workforce participation and phased retirement
- Seniors and volunteering: a multi-stage investigation of the benefits of and barriers to volunteering amongst older Australians
- Seniors experience of and perceptions of crime
- Seniors and shopping centres: access to safe public space
- optimising the acquisition of novel skills in older adulthood, and
- managing the ageing workforce: an operational HR framework for older employees
Current projects include:
- Seniors health attitudes and use of assistive technologies
- improving employment opportunities among mature age men: a pilot health intervention
- older road users and Australia’s road safety policy directions
- evaluating the participation of older Australians in the arts supply chain
- mature age consumer preferences for dealing with service providers of different ages
- consumers’ choice of technology for communication with health professionals
- fostering enterprising human capital growth in regions with high concentrations of Seniors, and
- the role of social capital in effective management of mature age workers
For more information about the Centre and its activities contact us
or visit our website.