Community Asset Mapping: A Blueprint to Aging in Place
Presented by Aimee E. Perron and Laura M. Caron-Parker
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Financial: Aimee E. Perron receives compensation from MedBridge for this course. There is no financial interest beyond the production of this course.
Nonfinancial: Laura M. Caron-Parker has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
Nonfinancial: Aimee E. Perron has no competing nonfinancial interests or relationships with regard to the content presented in this course.
Asset mapping is a process of identifying and recording the skills, talents, and resources of an individual, group, or community. Individual and group assets can be categorized as gifts, talents, expertise, knowledge, and resources. Community asset mapping is an approach used to identify the supportive features in a community that contribute to the ability of individuals to age in place with dignity. The process of asset mapping begins with person-centered assessments of intrinsic capacities (physical and mental) and extends to determining the assets of the community and of networks, as well as the interactions between them, to promote an age-friendly livable community. The goal of asset mapping is to identify supportive individual and community features designed to match an individual’s ever-changing functional ability and, by doing so, mediate the rate of decline, encourage active participation and engagement in society, increase social capital, and improve overall population health. The course draws on real-world examples to enhance skills and promote new knowledge for healthcare providers in all settings. It is particularly pertinent to successful care management of older adults with chronic conditions to support aging in place. This course is part 1 of a two-course series.
Meet your instructors
Aimee E. Perron
Aimee E. Perron is currently an assistant professor and associate director of clinical education at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned her MS in physical therapy from Boston University and her DPT from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. She has more than 27 years of…
Laura M. Caron-Parker
Laura M. Caron-Parker received her BA in occupational therapy from St. Catherine University. She obtained her Executive Certificate in Home Modification from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2018. She has more than 35 years of experience working with the older adult population across diverse healthcare settings…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. What Is Asset Mapping?
This chapter defines asset mapping and provides the learner with foundational knowledge of the different types of assets and processes for community asset mapping. The World Health Organization age-friendly domains will be introduced in this chapter.
2. The Why of Asset Mapping
Identifying ways to support access, availability, and utilization of healthcare services relative to at-risk areas or populations is critical for providing practical and actionable approaches to support aging in place and is vital to impacting quality of life. This is especially important in efforts to ameliorate potentially preventable health-related complications or poor health outcomes among a rapidly aging population of community-dwelling older adults. This chapter introduces the learner to what clinicians and clients need to consider first to begin a community asset mapping journey.
3. What Is the Focal Point of the Journey?
Asset mapping includes the clinician’s understanding of who is the focus of the journey, the individual’s path of functioning, and what is important to the individual. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that part of the assessment aids in determining what motivates individuals as well as how activated and engaged they are in the management of their healthcare. This chapter will use case examples to introduce how to perform a needs assessment using a person-centered care approach. The importance of family in gathering community data will be addressed.
4. Meet the Patients Where They Are
Individuals must take an account of their intrinsic capacity, a composite of both physical and mental capacities, and a wide range of their environmental factors in order to fully appreciate their functional ability. Before they can actively engage and participate in community assets, they must know their functional ability and what brings personal value. In this chapter, presenters will introduce tools used to help determine a patient's understanding and engagement in health management and to explore what brings personal value.
5. Relationships: Community and Patients
It takes an entire community to appreciate the valuable contributions older adults have made and the complex tapestry they have woven with their many life experiences. A successful community that supports aging in place is one that collaborates and understands aging as a dynamic process where functional abilities may shift and demands on supportive community features must be realized. Presenters will introduce the value of building a toolkit, inclusive of important elements of an asset inventory, that highlights individuals, groups, and organizations and their potential to contribute to the assets of their community.
