Lessons Learned from the Active Aging for L.I.F.E. Intergenerational Programming: College-Age Student and Older Adult 65+ Focus Group Perspectives

ABSTRACT

In Spring 2016 a community health education program entitled Active Aging for L.I.F.E was developed for an intergenerational audience (students 18-25 and older adults 65+) at a large Midwestern university. In order to gain perspective of the participant’s attitudes about the structure and execution of the speaker series, focus groups were conducted by researchers with both generations of participants six months after the speaker series concluded, with the translational goal of improving future presentations. Key themes uncovered from the focus groups included: increasing participant interaction and discussion, series content and depth, logistics and facilitation, and improving program diversity and reach.

Keywords:

• intergenerational program
• community health education
• active aging
• qualitative inquiry
• focus groups

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the College of Human Sciences, Oklahoma State University: [Grant Number N/A].