Participatory research towards improvement
The number of people at risk of poverty in Germany is increasing. Their living conditions are often characterised by poorer nutritional status and poorer overall health, less favourable housing conditions and lower social participation. For senior citizens, the situation is made even more difficult by the fact that they have hardly any means of escaping from poverty, both due to the irreversibility of inadequate retirement provisions and to physical constraints limiting supplementary income-generation. Thus, improving their situation is of great societal relevance.
This is where the research project “ELSinA - Nutritional situation and living conditions of senior citizens in poverty (in German: Ernährungs- und Lebenssituation von Seniorinnen und Senioren in Armut) comes in: a plan of action aimed at improving the nutritional situation and living conditions is being developed. The project focuses on changing the circumstances of life of senior citizens living in financial poverty in private households. The project is based on the understanding that nutritional situations and living conditions are influenced by a multitude of interconnected factors and their complex dynamic interactions. To facilitate change, the various interests, goals, opportunities for participation and expertise of those stakeholders involved must be considered. Consequently, in the ELSinA project, a transformation-oriented approach is being used to meet these challenges. The approach was developed at the MRI’s Institute of Nutritional Behaviour and combines empirical social research, systems science and transdisciplinarity.
Figure 1 presents the general approach adopted by ELSinA.
The first milestone of ELSinA was to obtain a clearer picture of the circumstances of life of senior citizens aged 65 and above who are living in financial poverty. That’s because so far, for Germany very little data exists on the nutritional situation and living conditions of this target group. Therefore, the initial situation of individual senior citizens was assessed. From the End of 2023 until summer 2024, 14 individuals from Karlsruhe, Germany, were questioned about their resources, problems and personal desires. For this purpose, the following methods were used: Photovoice - a method in which the senior citizens first took pictures of their nutritional situation and living conditions and then talked about them (step 1); and a qualitative interview as well as a questionnaire (step 2).
Building on this content, a “Future workshop” (step 3) was held in June 2024. Participants included not only the previously interviewed senior citizens from Karlsruhe, who took part as experts on their lived realities, but also professionals/representatives from social organizations and initiatives, who have an understanding of the living conditions of the target group. In the workshop, the participants identified and prioritised the most urgent needs for change among senior citizens with little money in Germany. The focus was on how to improve their nutritional situation and living conditions.
The results of the “Future workshop” were used to set the research topic for the subsequent ELSinA process: nutrition-related participation opportunities for senior citizens with little money. This includes participation in nutrition (self-determination of food choices) as well as participation through nutrition (through eating and drinking out, attending events involving eating and drinking and hosting guests at home).
In the follow up, those already involved and additional stakeholders from various fields such as civil society, politics/administration and science took part in several workshops held between October 2024 and February 2025, creating a system map for the research topic (Step 4.1). The objective was to utilize participatory modelling to understand the structures that determine the lack of participation opportunities in and through nutrition for senior citizens with little money. Together the participants identified relevant variables and discussed the causal connections. With the help of the MRI’s modelling team, the participants’ expertise and perspectives were “translated” in real time into a qualitative graphical model of the cause-and-effect relationships.
In the resulting system map, even complex cause-and-effect relationships between different aspects of the problems can be presented in a way that is understandable. Complexity becomes manageable rather than having to be over-simplified. The system map serves as a thinking tool and expands people’s ability to comprehend complex issues. Step by step, a picture emerges that could not have been seen from the individual parts alone. The result is a common, thorough understanding of the complex structures responsible for the lack of participation opportunities in and through nutrition experienced by older people with little money.
The system map (in German) as the intermediate result of the ELSinA-Project can be retrieved here . It is intended for an audience with professional interest and allows for zooming in to explore the model in detail. In addition to a description of the model’s history, the file also contains guidance on how to understand and interpret it.
Building on the system map, further workshops have been held since March 2025 to develop potential solution approaches by including diverse perspectives (Steps 4.2 and 5). The most promising ones will be selected and developed into socially viable and implementable measures. They will be integrated into a plan of action to help improving the nutritional participation of senior citizens with little money.
The ELSinA project will run until the end of 2026.