Older adults’ perceptions of ageism, discrimination, and racism

ABSTRACT

Older adults often experience different forms of discrimination, whether it be on the basis of their age, gender, race, or ethnicity (Rochon et al. 2021). Many older adults have stated they have experienced the health care system differently because of their race or ethnicity . Understanding older adults’ experiences and their perceptions of ageism and racism can guide future work. This observational cross-sectional study captured community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions about their experiences with ageism and racism. A few opened-ended questions were included in the cross-sectional survey. While results did not yield differences with respect to perceptions of ageism by race; there were statistically significant results in regard to perceived racism, with higher scores on the racism scales for individuals who self-identified as Black. Discussion and implications for practice, policy and research are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageism
• discrimination
• Perceptions
• racism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.