Leader: Amelia Compagni (BOCCONI); Other collaborator(s): all the researchers involved in WP5
Conducting experience-based co-design experiments in four different geographical contexts (pilot sites). The task will include the following steps: 1) Mapping and analysis of the most relevant initiatives catered to the elderly within the four pilot sites (Mar.-Dec. 2023); 2) Analysis of needs of the elderly through qualitative methods and tracing of their experiences with services to identify most relevant improvement priorities (Jan.-Oct. 2024); 3) Comparison between experience-based improvement priorities and those emerging through main indicator sets available through municipalities, local health authorities or other entities providing services to the elderly; 2) Elaboration, through co-design sessions, of solutions to improve critical steps in service (Jan.-Sep. 2025); 3) Fast prototyping of the elaborated solutions; 4) Elaboration of policy suggestions for the improvement of current services for the elderly and for the implementation of the new service models included in the PNRR (Feb. 2026).
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
To be able and conduct interviews and additional steps of the research project in the Piacenza province, a formal agreement with the LHA of Piacenza has been stipulated. This agreement has allowed the Bocconi resercahers to have access to anonymized data referring to the LHA's project "Montagna solidale".
The project involved 298 older people in the municipalities of Morfasso and Vernasca, over 75 years old and not in charge with any of the LHA or municipalities' services for whom the LHA had collected a series of social and health-related data;
The data from Montagna solidale have been analysed by the Bocconi team to be able to identify potential cluster and draw the sample of older people to be contacted for the interview part of the project. The cluster analysis has been sent to the Piacenza LHA and in contact with the older people by the LHA is expected for May 2024.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
Task 5.2 depends on the activities that are presently conducted in task 5.1. After the first phase of field work (interviews), the researchers will work on co-design. So, this task will develop fully only in the following phase of field work (cooperative inquiry and co-design), foreseen in 2025.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
The researchers involved in this task conducted interviews in the geographic area of Morfasso and Vernasca (see Task 5.1)
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
This task will develop fully only in the following phase of field work (cooperative inquiry and co-design), foreseen in 2025.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
The researchers involved in this task conducted interviews in the geographic area of Morfasso and Vernasca (see Task 5.1)
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
This task will develop fully only in the following phase of field work (cooperative inquiry and co-design), foreseen in 2025.
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
The 36 interviews carried out in the area of Piacenza (Morfasso and Vernasca) and subsequently transcribed are currently being analysed. This process entails the development/application of a codebook which is expected to highlight, for each of the older adults’ clusters previously identified, the: i) activities they engage in to promote their active ageing; ii) possible unmet or unexpressed needs in this respect; iii) local services provided to meet their expressed needs; iv) main barriers due to which certain needs remained unmet or unexpressed; v) core concerns and issues described by interviewees as related to their ageing experiences. The preliminary findings stemming from the analysis will be shared and discussed with the LHA of Piacenza during a meeting to be held in January 2025. Further drawing on the final results, a personas approach (Patalano et al., 2021; Gentile et al., 2022) will be used to develop fictitious persona profiles representing distinct segments of the study population (e.g., their socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics, needs, desires, etc.). These personas will represent the building blocks upon which the co-design sessions with involved community stakeholders will build to identify desirable solutions to address the described segments’ emerging needs.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
This task will develop fully only in the following phase of fieldwork (cooperative inquiry and co-design), foreseen in 2025.
Preparation for Meeting on January 17, 2025 – Meana
Preparation for Meeting on January 31, 2025 – AUSL Piacenza
The preparatory work completed in December ensures that the January meetings will proceed effectively, setting the foundation for stakeholder collaboration and Phase II implementation.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
This task will develop fully only in the following phase of fieldwork (cooperative inquiry and co-design).
Meeting on January 17, 2025 – Meana (Attendance: Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Councillor)
Meeting on January 31, 2025 – AUSL Piacenza
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
This task will develop fully only in the following phase of fieldwork (cooperative inquiry and co-design).
Brief description of the activities and of the intermediate results
Researchers sought and obtained Ethical Approval from the Bocconi University Ethics Committee for the activities to be carried out as part of the project’s second phase in the territories of Morfasso, Vernasca, Meana di Susa and Mattie. This implied structuring a detailed study protocol and developing all the materials that will be provided to study participants (i.e., informative leaflets, informed consent forms, ‘Personas’ descriptions).
Press conference on February 25, 2025 - AUSL Pacenza (Attendance: Ausl - General Manager, Director of Social and Health Care Activities, Director of the Eastern District, Coordinator of the Operational Unit ‘Territorial Organization’; Community Nurses, Social Workers and Mayors of Morfasso and Vernasca Municipalities; local press representatives)
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
The conference provided a valuable opportunity to make the project, its preliminary findings and next stages more visible to the local population, while disseminating knowledge about the lived experiences, demands and difficulties of those growing older in the territories involved in the study. Moreover, it helped build rapport and mutual understanding with local decision-makers and institutional stakeholders, who will be directly involved in the forthcoming research activities (Phase II) and will manage - in collaboration with the research team - the recruitment of further study participants.
Following up on the cooperative inquiry sessions conducted by Laura Formenti (see Task 5.1), between April and June 2025, WP5 researchers from Bocconi and Bicocca University have been involved in the conduction of 6 co-design sessions (lasting about 1 and a half hours each) in 2 rural communities: Vernasca and Morfasso (PC, Italy). The same activities will be carried out in July in the municipalities of Meana and Mattie (TO, Italy) and, as part of Task 5.4, in Terzigno and Liveri (NA, Italy).For each meeting, the following table summarises date, site and number/profile of the participants:
| Date | Site | Type | Participants |
| 15/05/2025 | Vernasca (Church Hall) | A | 9 senior citizens |
| 15/05/2025 | Vernasca (Church Hall) | B |
7 participants, comprising: Representatives of AUSL Piacenza: Community Nurse. Representatives of Municipality: Mayor; Municipal Councillor. Other community stakeholders: Director of local nursing home; Nurses from local shelter; NGOs - Pro loco. |
| 26/05/2025 | Morfasso (Town Hall) | A | 11 senior citizens |
| 26/05/2025 | Morfasso (Town Hall) | B |
11 participants, comprising: Representatives of AUSL Piacenza: Coordinatore Unità Operativa Organizzazione Territoriale; Community Nurse. Representatives of Municipality: Mayor; Councilor Social and Educational Policies; Social Worker. Other community stakeholders: local MMG; Pharmacist; Director nursing home “Santa Franca”; NGOs - Alpini; Nurse, Coop. “Santa Franca”; Manager Local Hotel and Restaurant. |
| 30/06/2025 | Morfasso (Town Hall) | C |
About 18 participants, comprising: Citizens: ~12 seniors. Representatives of AUSL Piacenza: Coordinatore Unità Operativa Organizzazione Territoriale; Community Nurse. Representatives of Municipality: Mayor; Councillor for Public Education and Social Policies; Social Worker. Other community stakeholders: Director nursing home “Santa Franca”. |
| 30/0672025 | Vernasca (Ancient Parish Church) | C |
10 participants, comprising: Representatives of AUSL Piacenza: Coordinatore Unità Operativa Organizzazione Territoriale; Community Nurse. Representatives of Municipality: Mayor; Social Worker. Citizens: 6 seniors. |
Usually, the initial meetings with senior citizens (type A) started with a recap of the main issues surfaced during the prior cooperative inquiry sessions (April 2025). They continued with the reading of two “personas”, developed by the Bocconi team based on the analysis of the interview data previously gathered with older adults in each community. These written prompts described the profiles, lived experiences and challenges of hypothetical characters living in the surroundings. Then, through guided discussion, participants have been encouraged to engage in a joint reflection about: 1. each character’s unfulfilled needs; 2. the outcomes to be achieved to improve the well-being of these characters; 3. a possible initiative to implement to attain the desirable end points identified. Throughout the meetings, older adults came up with a context-specific project deemed suited to address the personas’ needs. More specifically:
The second sessions (type B) involved public institutions and other actors of reference for the community (see details in the Table above). Initially, researchers summarised the resolutions achieved by senior citizens. Subsequently, the facilitators guided participants through a group discussion aimed at bringing out the obstacles and opportunities displayed by each territory when it comes to implementing the initiative envisaged by older adults.
Finally, the last co-design session held in each municipality (type C) gathered both private citizens and institutional stakeholders. In Morfasso, the meeting provided an opportunity to publicly present the initiative designed during the previous sessions (26/05/25), as well as for participants to discuss the extent to which they felt accustomed to using digital technologies and the potential purposes that the technology-based network to be realised could serve. In Vernasca, those who took part in previous meetings (15/05/25) were guided in a discussion about issues regarding the operational implementation of the initiative foreseen (namely, the time bank), such as its headquarters, envisaged use and the roles that some citizens could take on in running it.
Main policy, industrial and scientific implications
The research activities just described have numerous implications of relevance for both social and health care service co-design research and practice. First, they were key to moving from an exploration of individual experiences and perceptions of late-life transitions to a participatory process wherein such views were socialized (among older adults themselves and with other community stakeholders). All this represented the precondition to promote a joint reflection on how to best (and concretely) meet the needs of the older local population. Second, they provided an arena for institutional stakeholders to gain a richer understanding of such needs (often unexpressed or not fully satisfied). Third, the dialogue triggered thanks to the research project among senior citizens and local institutional actors (e.g., health and social care, municipal services, commercial activities, NGOs, etc.) represents a fundamental step to reinforce trust-based relationships and mutual understanding among parties, key to sustaining the actual implementation of the initiatives envisaged. Finally, the research process and findings will be further explored with the Health Unit of Piacenza to further promote a debate at the provincial and regional level.
Research papers
Press releases
Other initiatives