Research on the Application of Role Theory in Active Aging Education Service System Design

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) put forward the framework of active aging in 2003, and China is also actively implementing this policy. This paper sorted the changes of the elder’s role cognition and role expectation during retirement. At the same time, it combines the theory of “When Life Becomes Subject of Design” with the public service for the elderly, and puts forward the BEV-AAS framework of active aging service in the context of role theory. This framework includes three dimensions: social behavior based on role expectation, social environment aiming at role fulfillment and social values based on role cognition. With the design project about active aging public education service system which named LO-PAY & LO-GAIN as an example, this paper verifies the necessity, rationality and feasibility of the framework. Through interviews, the main stakeholders of the elderly are divided into elite and general elderly. On the one hand, the elite elderly will be encouraged to use their professional knowledge to become the providers of public education services, and then complete the productive aging. On the other hand, both elite and general elderly are encouraged and supported to realize their respective role expectations through personalized courses planning, customer journey optimization, online digital platform construction, offline teaching & learning space expansion, etc., so as to successfully realize the active aging.