The Spanish Intergenerational Study: Beliefs, Stereotypes, and Metacognition about Older People and Grandparents to Tackle Ageism

Geriatrics

Francisco Javier Alcaín¹  Lydia Giménez-Llort²  Aida Muntsant²  Paula Ramírez-Boix²  Rocío Leal-Campanario³ 

[1] Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain;Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, E-080193 Barcelona, Spain;División de Neurociencias, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Sevilla, Spain;

关键词: ageism;    stereotypes;    discrimination;    old population;    grandparents;    strategies;   

DOI  :  10.3390/geriatrics6030087

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Ageism can be seen as systematic stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination of people because of their age. For a long time, society has accepted negative stereotypes as a norm. When referring to older adults, the United Nations Global Report on Ageism warns about a severe impact. The Intergenerational Study for a Healthy Aging, a questionnaire about believes, stereotypes, and knowledge about older people and grandparents, was administered to 326 Spanish biology and medical students. Here we report the results of stereotype analysis through adjective qualification of the youth and older people performed before the survey. Content analysis of two open questions about metacognition at the end of the survey is also presented. The results show that: (1) The questionnaire promoted metacognition; (2) Positive metacognition toward grandparents was higher than for the general old population; (3) Most participants were not conscious about ageism; (4) Gender was a key factor—male students were more ageist than females; (5) The feeling of guilt was higher in the questionnaire about older people; (6) The metacognition exercise elicited thoughts and, in few cases, the need to take action to tackle ageism. In conclusion, both activities promoted active thoughts about older people vs. grandparents and helped participants realize unconscious ageism—specifically toward the older population—serving as an awareness activity that may help tackle ageism.

【 授权许可】

Unknown