Mission

The mission of HAPS is to enhance healthy ageing in society by studying the societal aspects of the process of healthy ageing, over the life course, focussing on the interactions between the three societal levels: macro, meso, micro (see figure).

 

HAPS is multidisciplinary in nature and combines the individual approach of epidemiology with the macro-population and socio-cultural approach of (social) demography and the institutional and network approaches of sociology. An outline of the scientific rationale has been published in “Stolk, Hutter, Wittek.
Population ageing research: a family of disciplines. Eur J Epidemiol 2009“ [Download]

Research within HAPS will focus on the following themes

• Studying healthy aging at both macro (population, groups in society) and micro level (individuals)
• Situating healthy ageing in the socio-cultural context (macro and meso level) in which people live
• Combining social scientific and medical research approaches and theories
• Combining quantitative research methods (life table analysis, longitudinal data analysis, multi-level analysis) with qualitative research methods (social network analysis, interviews, focus group discussions and observations)
• Linking research to interventions and policy making