Theoretical and Methodological Challenges and Advantages When Combining Methods and Using Cross-Scientific Perspectives in the Study of Senior Camps.

Since the beginning of 2000 senior camps have been established on several places in Sweden, with the purpose to decrease social exclusion and improve health amongst elderly people. These senior camps build on notions of what it means to age and to ”be old” in relation to activity, health, functional abilities and participation in society. In a cross-scientific and holistic study at CASE, Lund University these senior camps have been studied from three perspectives 1) History of ideas: What is the cultural meaning of senior camps? 2) Ethnology: How is age made visible and important at senior camps? 3) Occupational Science: What are the individual social and health aspects of the senior camp?

In this presentation we will discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges and advantages of combining different perspectives when studying the phenomena of senior camps. What happens in the cross-scientific meeting of ethnology, occupational science and history of ideas in the view of notions such as activity, subject and power? Further, experiences of applying a user perspective through a user conference following the methodological principles of the world café will be shared. The world café method enabled the researchers and responsible persons for the 11 different senior camps in Sweden to jointly reflect upon the findings and deepen the analysis. Experiences of combining different scientific perspectives as well as researcher-users perspectives will be elaborated upon in this presentation.