A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) refers to a building or neighbourhood that has organically become home to a significant number of older adults. Unlike retirement homes or long-term care facilities, NORCs are not intentionally designed for older adults; Instead, they are intergenerational communities where many older adults live independently.

The NORC Innovation Centre (NIC) at University Health Network (UHN) is a first-of-its-kind centre that combines integrated care delivery with a community development approach, providing Canadians with new options for aging in place with dignity and choice. The NIC is dedicated to advancing a 21st-century model of integrated health and social care in NORCs in Toronto through the creation of programs, resources, and tools.

Addressing a growing community

The natural concentration of older adults in NORCs presents an opportunity to provide services and support directly within these communities, helping people to age in place where they already live and where they want to stay. The NIC recognized a need to sustain and scale its efforts due to a growing community and identified an opportunity for peer learning through spaces where community members can share what is working and what is not. This opportunity launched the development of a research-informed virtual community platform to support community members leading their own aging-in-place initiatives.

The initiative to build the NORC Talks Community Forum was born, with the goal of providing opportunities for older adults to:

1. Connect and support: Foster meaningful connections and receive ongoing support from other older adults.
2. Access resources: Find valuable tools and learn about NIC-trusted service providers.
3. Gain support: Use NIC-developed workbooks and resources to support their aging-in-place initiatives.
4. Share and learn: Gain insights on initiating, strengthening, and sustaining local aging-in-place networks, discover diverse initiatives, and exchange ideas and experiences.

The NIC enlisted Bridgeable to ensure that this virtual community is informed, inclusive, scalable, and aligned with the needs of the older adults living in these communities and/or interested in initiating their aging-in-place initiatives. Together, NIC and Bridgeable collaborated to develop a user-centred strategy for:

• Optimizing platform design and features: Identifying the most suitable features and user experience elements for older adults, ensuring accessibility and ease of use.
• Onboarding and digital literacy support: Understanding barriers to digital participation and designing strategies to support older adults with varying levels of digital literacy.
• Community facilitation and governance: Establishing best practices for moderation that foster engagement, encourage dialogue, and maintain an appropriate and community-led feel.

Developing a virtual community platform with human-centred design

Bridgeable brought a research-informed and human-centred approach to developing the virtual community platform for older adults. This was completed in four key phases:

Phase 1: Understand

• We conducted interviews with older adults to understand their experiences with digital technologies, their expectations for an online platform, and the specific features they needed to feel comfortable and empowered.
• We conducted desk research on NORCs and visual design guidelines for older adults.

Phase 2: Define

• With a solid understanding of user needs, we synthesized key insights from our interviews, focusing on participants’ daily technology habits and their pre-existing expectations for a virtual community.
• Based on these insights, we developed an initial minimum viable product (MVP) prototype for the NORC Talks Community Forum.

Phase 3: Validate

• We tested the prototype directly with community members to gather feedback on ease of use and functionality, which is especially critical for users with varying levels of digital literacy.
• We refined and iterated the platform based on their input, making necessary adjustments to improve the design and address any missing needs.
• We developed comprehensive onboarding materials to help new members sign up and navigate the NORC Talks Community Forum with confidence. This included a three-minute video that provides an overview of the platform’s content, and a step-by-step guide to ensure a smooth start for all users.

Phase 4: Finalize

• The platform was officially launched to the community and actively moderated, gathering ongoing feedback from community members to better understand usability and accessibility for future updates.
• To ensure a smooth handover, we provided the NIC with a number of additional resources, including:
  • A Moderation Guidance Rubric to support consistent moderation of the platform.
  • A Moderation Workflow Log to document and guide future administrative tasks.
  • An Admin Guide to support the NIC team on administration of the platform.
  • A Summary Report with all of the key insights and design principles that informed the creation of the platform, along with future considerations for sustaining and expanding the platform.

Learnings from user testing and interviews with NORC members

Based on early interviews and user testing of the platform’s MVP, we identified key user needs that guided our development of the NORC Talks Community Forum. The first of which was a desire for a space that fosters community connection. Members wanted intentional ways to learn from their peers, easily identify others with similar experiences, and engage in structured, topic-specific discussions. They were also looking for flexible learning, allowing them to explore resources at their own pace and find information relevant to areas outside of the Greater Toronto Area.

During user testing, our design priorities became evident: clear visual cues, straightforward language, and simple navigation with minimal clicks, in order to ensure a seamless user experience. Additionally, the platform was optimized for accessibility across a range of devices and technologies, and resources were provided in various formats, including printable documents.

Design principles that guided the platform

The interviews and user testing sessions were also the primary source of truth in developing six design principles (a set of guidelines and recommendations) that would ultimately guide the development of the NORC Talks Community Forum platform. The design principles summarize what is most critical for NIC and NORC community members in order to provide direction for the design process. They are also a support that can guide future developers and moderators in creating and maintaining an ideal user experience.

These design principles included:

1. Foster community connection
2. Empower older adults to build and sustain an aging-in-place initiative
3. Encourage community knowledge-sharing and peer support
4. Prioritize ease of use
5. Have potential for scalability
6. Minimize administrative burden on the NIC

The NORC Talks Community Forum is officially live, and we’re thrilled to see the community connecting and engaging virtually. As the NIC takes over the reins, we have shared future considerations that will help to sustain and grow this important space, including member-supported moderation, engagement facilitation, continued socialization, scaling beyond the Greater Toronto Area, in-platform identification of NORC and aging-in-place stages, and platform events.

Visit the NORC Talks Community Forum