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Improving Attitudes Toward Elderly People: Evaluation of an Intervention Program for Adolescents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Stephen Dooley  and
B. Gail Frankel
Stephen Dooley
Affiliation:
Addiction Research Foundation
B. Gail Frankel
Affiliation:
The University of Western Ontario
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Abstract

In an experimental evaluation of a “friendly visitor” type of program in which adolescents visited senior citizens, it was found that general attitudes toward elderly people (measured by the Semantic Differential developed by Rosencranz and McNevin) improved following weekly contact with specific elderly persons. One of the weaknesses in research on this type of intervention has been the assumption that the quality of the contact was uniform, and the impact of quality was rarely assessed. In the present study, the perceived quality of the experience was found to have a significant impact on improving attitudes. Programs such as the one evaluated here can, therefore, have two outcomes: the provision of service to elderly individuals and the change of negative attitudes toward elderly people.

Résumé

RÉSUMÉ

Durant l'evaluation expérimental d'un programme “gentil visiteur,” alors que des adolescents rendaient visite à des personnes âgées, les chercheurs ont remarqué que l'attitude des jeunes envers les personnes âgées (mesurée par le Semantic Differential conçu par Rosencranz et McNiven) s'améliorait nettement suite à une rencontre hebdomadaire avec la même personne âgée. Antérieurement, les chercheurs examinant ce genre d'intervention présumaient à tort que la qualité des rencontres était uniforme, négligeant donc d'en examiner les effets. Dans cette étude, la qualité perçue de l'expérience a nettement amélioré les attitudes. Les programmes semblables à ceux qui ont été évalués ici peuvent donc produire deux genres de résultats: dans un premier temps, celui d'offrir des services aux personnes âgées et, dans un deuxième temps, celui de modifier l'attitude négative envers les personnes âgées.

Keywords

AdolescentsAttitude ChangeAgeismInterventionEvaluation.
Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 9 , Issue 4 , Winter/hiver 1990 , pp. 400 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1990

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Footnotes

*

The authors wish to extend their thanks to Friendship in Action for the data reported here and to Dr. Laurel Strain for her comments on an earlier version of this paper.

1

Department of Sociology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2

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