Ageism is a societal concern that greatly affects the social, emotional, physical, and mental health of older adults. One way to decrease ageist attitudes and improve the treatment of older adults is to address and improve age stereotypes among young adults. Using data from students participating in an intergenerational digital-learning program, the present study investigated change in students’ stereotypes of older adults and aging. We examined change from pre- and post-scores in student attitudes toward older adults and the type of adjectives used to describe older adults. We also analyzed responses to open-ended questions about changes in perception of older adults and aging and interest in working with older adults. Findings showed that: (1) Students’ attitudes improved following participation in the program; (2) students used fewer negative words to describe older adults following participation; (3) answers to open-ended questions demonstrated that many students improved their perceptions of older adults; and (4) many students showed increased interest in working with older adults in their future careers. Programs that reduce age stereotypes should be promoted in order to reduce young people’s harmful ageist stereotypes, ensure respectful treatment of older adults in all workplace and social situations, and increase interest in aging-related fields.
Veteran suicide is a serious public health problem. Some data suggest that veteran suicide risk profiles differ from those of nonveterans. Records for veteran (n = 21,692) and nonveteran (n = 83,430) men who died by suicide were examined from 17 U.S. states using the National Violent Death Reporting System data. Seventeen precipitating factors were examined and combined through meta-analysis of proportions. Many precipitating factors were found to be less frequent for veterans. A smaller number of factors were found to be higher in the veteran population, including physical health problems. A sizable cumulative effect size (1.02) was observed, suggesting that veteran and nonveteran men show meaningful and substantive differences in their risk profiles—differences that should be considered when planning and implementing suicide prevention and intervention efforts. The conspicuous role of physical health problems among veterans who die by suicide is discussed. The article concludes with specific practice recommendations for social workers.
Indigenous Peoples (IP) face significant health disparities that stem from historical trauma (HT). This is the first systematic review to investigate mental health interventions that address HT in addition to treating mental health disorders among IP in the United States. The data search included seven databases for published studies, consultations with experts, hand searching journals, and reference list checking. Five studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. In total, 608 clients were examined. Findings suggested that treatments that addressed HT had a marginally beneficial effect on psychological and HT symptom outcomes. However, one study found that the intervention was not successful at maintaining these gains. Due to the limited number of studies, and the heterogeneity of research findings and the methodological limitations suffered by included studies, no definite conclusions about mental health interventions that address HT can be drawn. Recommendations for practice, such as using traditional healing practices for IP in mental health interventions, and recommendations for future research are provided.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.