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Articles

Impact of life stories on college students’ positive and negative attitudes toward older adults

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Pages 326-340 | Published online: 26 Apr 2017
 

ABSTRACT

Gerontological educators are increasingly interested in reducing college students’ negative, and promoting their positive, attitudes toward older adults. Over the course of a semester, students from six 4-year institutions viewed three life story videos (documentaries) of older adults and completed pre- and posttest surveys that assessed their positive (Allophilia Scale) and negative (Fraboni Scale of Ageism) attitudes. The authors assessed changes in attitudinal scales between treatment (with videos, n = 80) and control (no video, n = 40) groups. Change score analysis with 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals estimated the effects of the documentaries on students’ attitudes. The treatment group showed significant increases in kinship, engagement, and enthusiasm, and decreases in antilocution and avoidance (all ps <.05). There was no significant change in affect, comfort, or discrimination. This study demonstrated how video stories impact students’ attitudes about older adults.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Drs. Carolyn Aldwin and Tamara Ross, Oregon State University; Alex Bishop, Oklahoma State University; David Burdick, Christine Ferri, Gina Maguire, and Michelle Walmsley, Stockton University; Kerstin Gerst Emerson, University of Georgia; Jennifer Margrett, Peter Martin, and Dr. Thomas Schofield, Iowa State University for their contributions to the data collection. The authors also thank Alan Stecker, one of the producers of the life story videos used in this research. The research reported in this manuscript has not been published elsewhere and has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

Funding

This research was funded in part by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation to the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education that supported L.W. Poon as an AGHE Founders Fellow.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation to the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education that supported L.W. Poon as an AGHE Founders Fellow.

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