Ageism can negatively affect everyday interactions with older adults, social policies, healthcare practices, and the physical and cognitive outcomes of aging. Reducing ageism among young adults can improve the lives of older adults and allow for optimal aging. The current study investigates whether a psychology course on aging with a…

Intergenerational service-learning for undergraduate students seeks to generate interest about the older adult population, while increasing knowledge and improving attitudes about aging and reducing ageism. It is difficult to make an impact on students' views in a short time period, such as an academic quarter. This comparative effectiveness…

Biases against the elderly and people with disabilities can lead to discriminatory behaviors. One way to conceptualize attitudes toward the elderly and people with disabilities is through the differentiation of explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) factors. Although both explicit and implicit attitudes and biases contribute to the full…

This study investigated the effect of a semester-long aging and adult development course that included an intergenerational, service-learning component on attitudes toward older adult men and women, aging anxiety, and interest in occupations that serve older adults among individuals training for careers in healthcare and social services. It also…

Analysis of student journals examined the effect intergenerational service-learning had upon undergraduate students' attitudes and perceptions of older adults. Students (N = 102) engaged in 12 hours of service-learning with older adults that included writing structured reflection journals. Coding involved open, axial, and selective coding with…

This article describes the Digital Life History Project, a 10-week "lab" linked to a course on aging, in which students and community-dwelling elders work together to create a short digital story honoring the elder's life. After two interview sessions, the pair works together to produce a 3- to 5-minute digital life story narrated by the elder.…

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of both students and older adults that participated in a service-learning, environmental health education program called Recycling Mentors (RM). Methods: Surveys were conducted before and after participation in RM. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS.…

A comentoring project paired students in a lifespan developmental psychology course with older adults to conduct a life review. The intergenerational paring was designed to increase students' knowledge of older adults, the aging process, and development across the lifespan. Students developed a paper that included their partner's life history, a…

An experimental group of 22 undergraduates (including 10 over age 55) took a course with an intergenerational service learning component. Compared to 22 controls, results showed the course increased knowledge about aging processes and improved attitudes toward aging. (SK)

Journals kept by 12 students in a life-history project who visited older adults revealed four experiences: (1) preprogram assumptions about how to interact with the elderly; (2) personal conflict over the inappropriateness of the assumptions in action; (3) reevaluation of themselves and intergenerational relationships; and (4) transposition--10 of…

Service-learning evaluation rarely compares different cohorts of students, so it is difficult to determine whether the findings are reliable. This study compared attitudinal change in five successive cohorts of intergenerational service-learning students (n=59) enrolled in an introductory gerontology course at a major Midwestern university.…

Service-learning evaluation rarely compares different cohorts of students, so it is difficult to determine whether the findings are reliable. This study compared attitudinal change in five successive cohorts of intergenerational service-learning students (n =59) enrolled in an introductory gerontology course at a major Midwestern university.…

Pre/post-project data from 40 students who worked with 25 older workers on skill-building activities indicated that service learning improved their attitudes toward older workers. Preproject, both students and workers felt older workers would not be comfortable with technology. Students discovered that older workers are interested in and capable…