Intergenerational connections: US college students' attitudes and expectations toward older adults and aging in an online critical community engagement project

We present a critically focused, semester-long community engagement project entitled 'Intergenerational Connections' as a form of critical interpersonal and family communication pedagogy (CIFCP). The project utilized Zoom to connect small groups of undergraduate students in the US enrolled...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of communication pedagogy (Print) 2024-01, Vol.8, p.48-67
Main Authors: Faulkner, Sandra, Pollino, Madison, Shetterly, Jaclyn, Watson, Wendy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
cifcp
College students
Communication
Community development
community engagement projects
dialogue
Group identity
older adults
Older people
Social aspects
social identity theory
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Summary:We present a critically focused, semester-long community engagement project entitled 'Intergenerational Connections' as a form of critical interpersonal and family communication pedagogy (CIFCP). The project utilized Zoom to connect small groups of undergraduate students in the US enrolled in a course on relational communication with older adults in a long-term care facility to dialogue about close relationships. We were interested in how dialogue across generations maintained or altered students' attitudes and expectations about communicating with older adults and analyzed student reflections before, during, and after the dialogues using a turning point analysis. The study was framed using Social Identity Theory (SIT) to show how young adults may label older adults as an outgroup contributing to negative stereotypes. We discuss two turning points related to 'Perceptions of Aging and Developmental Changes' and 'Understanding and Expectations of Relationships' and identify practical implications of the project for universities and communities.
ISSN:2578-2568
2640-4524
2578-2568
DOI:10.31446/JCP.2024.1.04