Written by Kim Furlow, Communication Programs Manager, Institute for Public Health
How do older adults understand and experience ageism? The Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging, is organizing community focus groups to increase knowledge about ageism for intervention development. The World Health Organization defines ageism as the stereotypes (how people think), prejudice (how people feel) and discrimination (how people act) directed towards others or oneself, based on age.
Friedman Center co-Director, Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Bettie Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy at the Brown School, who leads the study with center co-Director Brian Carpenter, PhD, professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences, said ageism is “prevalent, invisible and hurts older people and communities.” Center Manager, Natalie Galucia is also an integral part of the study team. “The Friedman Center is committed to the advancement of knowledge to inform interventions to combat ageism, and to education that increases awareness about ageism in society,” Galucia said. “To this end, we provide anti-ageism resources on our website, infuse ageism content into courses and seminars on campus and the community, and conduct research on this important topic.”
The RRF Foundation for Aging is funding the study called, Using Older People’s Understanding of Ageism to Develop Interventions to Combat It. To expand the research team’s knowledge about older adults’ experiences with ageism and to help the researchers develop essential elements for an intervention, the Friedman Center is conducting approximately eight focus groups and getting feedback from more than 60 people aged 60 and older. There are no criteria for participation except older age so the focus groups include people who are working, volunteering, fully retired, etc.
The research team is recruiting participants from several partner organizations in the community, StL Village, LifeWise StL, St. Louis Area Agency on Aging, SAGE, and the St. Louis NORC. Participants are diverse in ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status. Several groups will focus solely on African American older adults and LGBTQ+ older adults for their feedback on how ageism intersects with race/ethnicity and gender/sexual identity.
Interventions to reduce ageism usually target younger people and service providers, with little research on interventions directed explicitly at older people to help them identify and resist ageism. This initial study expands our knowledge to help us understand how older people think about ageism and how to motivate them to confront it.
Brian Carpenter, PhD, co-director, Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging
Focus group discussions center on participants’ thoughts about what ageism is, examples of how they experienced it, and how they reacted. Groups may be asked questions like: Internalized ageism is a type of ageism where older people believe and act on the negative messages about aging that they have heard all their lives. When you hear about this idea of internalized ageism, what do think? Can you give examples of how you might have experienced internalized ageism? Participants’ ideas about how they could have better confronted the ageism they experienced is also collected.
The study team will share their findings with partner organizations and offer an initial outline of an intervention for feedback. The community partners will be instrumental in helping develop and pilot a program to help older people recognize and respond to ageism. Ultimately, to provide the most appropriate and effective interventions to ageism, Morrow-Howell and Carpenter believe it is important to listen to and hear older adults talk about this pervasive issue.
We need to know the language older people use to describe ageism and the experiences they report in employment, health care, and family settings. This knowledge is important for designing acceptable and effective anti-ageism programs.
Nancy Morrow-Howell, co-director, Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging
To read Friedman Center briefs and infographics on ageism and other issues in aging, visit this page.
For information about the study, focus groups and more, please contact the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging.