Typical Oversights when Managing an Intergenerational Program: A Reflection from Portugal

ABSTRACT

This article reflects on how a lack of systematic design in planning an intergenerational program (IP) could compromise the use of an appropriate methodological framework, participant selection criteria, and applicable methods of evaluation. Drawing upon an IP developed in a disadvantaged context in Portugal between a school and a day care center for older persons, we critically consider the motivations for implementing this type of program. It is argued that disparate motivations lead to unsystematic design and planning, an indistinctness of selection criteria for the participants and prevented outcomes-oriented thinking. Additionally, guidance is provided for potential use in planning future IPs.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergenerational programming
• methodological framework
• oversights
• practitioners
• systematic design