Abstract
Since Taiwan’s age-friendly city (AFC) program was launched in 2012, the federal government has provided various resources to the country’s 22 local authorities, including budgetary support, policy advocacy, and consultation from a team of experts. In order to examine similarities and differences in the perspectives of local program facilitators and expert team members, a 53-item questionnaire was developed based on the WHO guide. The questionnaire assessed AFC mechanisms and processes (20 items), outcome evaluations (23 items), and resource integration (10 items). Local authority program facilitators were found to score higher than expert team members with regard to a number of AFC mechanisms and processes, including “organized education/training program”, “establish commitment for officers” and “assess impact and outcome.” Program facilitators also scored higher on outcome evaluation items such as “inter-exchange experience with local and international cities” (40%), “monitor and revise indicators” (37%), and “evaluate performance of indicators and action plans” (37%), and resource integration items such as “interact between government and community” (46%) and “interact between civil organization and senior society” (39%). Clearly, local program facilitators and expert consultants differ substantially in their assessments of AFC mechanisms and processes, outcome evaluation, and resource integration. These findings point to the need for greater awareness of differing perspectives among key stakeholders, and intentional efforts to promote collaboration among them.