When considering the factors contributing to
health inequities, the most obvious include social class and prejudice based
on race, sexual orientation and gender identity. However, a recent global study with
over seven million participants concludes that ageism is also a key factor.
Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that older persons are not only excluded
from health research (even for disease trials more prevalent in later life),
but the way they are treated while receiving care can negatively impact their
physical and mental well-being.
With age bias ingrained into the culture, what
does it take to create change? And, what might change look like in a healthcare
setting?
Inspired by the Pain of Ageism
Laurinda Reynolds enrolled in community
college when she was 54 after a career in sales and marketing and later,
geriatric care. When deciding where to go to school, she chose the most
age-friendly community college in the area, but after transferring to a
university setting she found ageism present in almost every learning
environment she encountered – until she changed her major to gerontology.
“Ageism is defined as any negative or
fear-provoking message about aging,” explains Reynolds. “And what all ageism
messages have in common is that they accumulate in our subconscious mind, prime
us negatively about aging and can become stigmatizing.”
Reynolds’ personal experiences with ageism
were compounded when she began learning about the prevalence of bias against
older adults. For example, if a younger person makes an error, they are given
the benefit of the doubt, whereas older persons are not. That realization
firmly rooted her interest in the topic and in 2016, while completing a
Capstone for her master’s degree, she conceived of the idea for Ageism First
Aid (AFA) as an educational intervention to combat ageism.
In May of 2016, AFA was funded by a grant from
the Retirement Research Foundation and two years later was picked up by the
Gerontological Society of America (GSA) who offers the course from their website.
GSA also established a loyalty program to help provide gerontology programs at
universities and colleges with funding for student scholarships and projects.
Ageism First Aid
After years of research, writing and testing,
AFA has been tailored to reduce the presence of ageism in the health and
helping professions because those groups interact with older people daily.
Adopted by many of the Age-Friendly Certified Universities, AFA consists of
three modules using easy-to-understand language. The average reader can
complete the course in about two hours, or four hours if listening to the
audio.
Katherina Nikzad-Terhune, assistant professor
in the School of Social Work at Northern Kentucky University, reviewed the AFA
course and then piloted it with many of her undergrad and graduate students
last year. “I made it a mandatory assignment in one of my courses and my
students received the certificate of completion at the end,” said Terhune, who
encouraged students to include the training on their resumes. “I received
positive feedback from my students who felt that the AFA course helped them
have a different perspective of ageism, and helped them be more insightful of
their thoughts and actions.”
Dr. Carrie Andreoletti, professor of
psychological science and coordinator of gerontology for Central Connecticut
State University (CCSU), plans to offer AFA as a tool for faculty wanting to
increase their own knowledge about aging and ageism. CCSU is part of the Age-Friendly
University global network, embracing the Ten Principles of an
Age-Friendly University developed by Dublin City University to provide a
framework to widen access to higher education for older members of the
community.
“I’m working to expand age diversity and aging
education on our campus, and I am hoping that AFA will encourage faculty to
consider using the program in their classes,” said Andreoletti. “I think
everyone can benefit from Ageism First Aid as many people are walking around
with misconceptions about aging, and they don’t even realize it.”
Blue Sky Dreams
Several assessments are used to evaluate the
effectiveness of AFA and to identify areas of content that can be improved.
Pre- and post-learning belief assessments measure the change in perceptions
around aging, older people and ageism.
“For example, 71 percent of learners in the
pilot believed that aging causes rapid changes and leads to death, but after
taking the course, only seven percent held that belief,” said Reynolds. They
also look at learner responses to the 90 questions in the course and those
questions with a percentage of error over 10 percent are revised to make the
content clearer. Finally, course evaluations provide “quantitative and
qualitative feedback and students across the fields of gerontology, nursing,
social work and medical students all expressed surprise at what they learned
and offered ideas for improvements.”
And, while the training is still in its early
stages, feedback suggests it has the potential to change the trajectory of
negativity toward older people. As caregivers, nurses and other healthcare
professionals learn to recognize age-bias, they also learn how to avoid the
cultural attitudes that perpetuate it.
Reynolds hopes AFA will become a required
training, just like first aid and CPR. “That’s the only way we can
significantly reduce the negative effects ageism has on older people,” said
Reynolds. “Every certified, licensed and registered healthcare paraprofessional
and professional; every person working or volunteering in the Aging Network;
every student earning vocational certificates and degrees planning to work in
the field of aging; and every person doing research about aging and older
people should be required to take Ageism First Aid.”
Even though the course targets health and
helping professionals , people of all ages and interests can benefit from
taking the course. Not only does it explain what ageism is and how it
negatively impacts olders, but it also introduces ways to language questions
and responses to avoid it.
To learn more, contact Reynolds through
her website.
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