Age-segregation in Swedish society and lack of community engagement in end-of-life issues motivated us to collaborate with community-based organizations to develop Studio DöBra (SDB), an intergenerational initiative to facilitate meetings between children and elderly to stimulate conversations about dying, death, and loss, through art projects. Collaboration was guided by community-based participatory research principles and a project group was formed with representatives from a children’s library, an activity center for elderly, and an artistic organization for children. As literature was lacking, professionals involved in similar initiatives were interviewed to inform SDB development. Based on these interviews and data from SDB development, we discuss approaches used for navigating the collaborative process of developing SDB and challenges encountered, often related to the sensitivity of the topic. We found a need to navigate several power dynamics. One dynamic related to project group members – the ‘adults-in-between’ the participating children and the elderly – having responsibility for and power over these age-groups. Other power dynamics related to interpersonal differences in the SDB project group, e.g. profession, social status, and the project being researcher-initiated. Findings illustrate ways in which these dynamics enabled or hindered development of SDB and similar initiatives.

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