About Reducing Ageism
Reducing Ageism
- Reducing ageism requires a multi-faceted approach since ageism includes stereotyping (beliefs about the attributes of a group and its members), prejudice (affect), and discrimination (behavior).
- Reducing stereotyping often involves education since stereotypes represent inaccurate, mischaracterizations that are applied to the group as a whole and each group member.
- Intergenerational programs, which bring together younger and older individuals, have the potential to reduce ageism toward the age groups involved in the interaction. In educational settings, intergenerational learning programs or service learning programs (Gaggioli et al. 2014; Roodin Brown, & Shedlock, 2013) occur worldwide including in Australia, Canada, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States (Canedo-Garica et al., 2017; Portero, 2012).
- There is a growing body of evidence-based research that examines interventions to reduce ageism toward older adults in particular. Results from meta-analyses (analyses that combine data from numerous studies to help draw conclusions about the body of research) point to the effectiveness of interventions to improve attitudes toward older adults. One relevant meta-analysis included 58 qualifying published articles between 1995-2014 (Chonody, 2015), and another relevant meta-analysis included 63 qualifying studies from 1976-2018 (Burnes et al., 2019).
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