Intergenerational Group Reminiscence: A Potentially Effective Intervention to Enhance Elderly Psychosocial Wellbeing and to Improve Children's Perception of Aging

Several studies have reported the efficacy of group reminiscence in improving wellbeing in older adults. Still, the potential of intergenerational reminiscence, involving groups of seniors and children, has not been thoroughly investigated. We explored the potential benefits of this approach in a feasibility study, which involved 32 older adults and 114 students participating in a within-subject, repeated measures design. Participants were assigned to 16 groups, each including two seniors and six to eight pupils. The intervention consisted of three weekly meetings, totaling to about six hours of reminiscing activities. Pretest and posttest measures included seniors’ perceived levels of Loneliness, Self-esteem, and Quality of life. In addition, the effects of intergenerational contact on children's perception of the elderly were investigated by using an ad hoc semantic differential scale. Analyses of pre- and postintervention measures revealed that the elderly participants reported significantly lower values of loneliness and an increase in perceived Quality of life. Further, results indicated that following their participation in the program the children's attitude towards the elderly positively changed in a positive way. Intergenerational group reminiscence is a potentially effective activity to improve psychosocial wellbeing and Quality of life in healthy older adults and to improve the way younger generations perceive the elderly