The current study investigates older adults’ perceptions of ageism in the United States during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using tenets of Stereotype Embodiment Theory and the Behaviors from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes Map framework, we sought to (a) examine whether older adults experienced ageism as self‐relevant during the pandemic and (b) understand whether older adults experienced certain media messages and interpersonal behaviors during the pandemic and interpreted them as being motivated by potentialpaternalistic age stereotypes. Older adults aged 65 and older recruited from the community ( n = 73) participated in a semi‐structured interview about their perspectives on ageism toward older adults during the pandemic. Participants also completed an online survey about their experiences with a range of messages and interpersonal behaviors throughout the pandemic. We thematically analyzed interview data and identified three primary themes: self‐relevance of age stereotypes; awareness of negative, overgeneralized portrayals of older adults; and defenses against self‐relevance of age stereotypes. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency counts and suggest that participants attributed messages and behaviors potentially imbued with paternalistic ageism as motivated primarily by care and concern for older adults. The findings add to the field's understanding of older adults’ experiences and perceptions of ageism in the media and in interpersonal behaviors in the context of COVID‐19.
Adult children who are uninformed about their parents’ preferences for end-of-life care may not be prepared to advocate on their behalf when the circumstances arise. The purpose of the current analysis was to examine how well adult children understand their parents’ end of life preferences. We analyzed responses from adult children (n = 70) of 40 older adults (65+) who participated in an intervention to improve family communication about end-of-life care. We compared children’s and parents’ responses on the same set of 6 questions about healthcare decision-making (e.g., “Which medical decision-maker has the final say?”) and 4 questions about living preferences (e.g., “Would you want to move to a nursing home?”). We also examined demographic differences between children who had higher agreement (≥ 6/10 questions correct; n = 32) versus lower agreement (<6/10 questions correct; n = 38). On average, children provided the same response as their parents on approximately 5 out of 10 questions. Overall, adult children answered more questions correctly about living preferences compared to preferences about healthcare decisions (t(69) = 6.59, p < 0.001). In terms of demographic characteristics, there were no significant differences between children with higher and lower agreement with their parents’ preferences on variables including gender, frequency of contact with parents, and living proximity to parents. Our results underscore the need for increased communication between adult children and their parents about topics likely to influence quality of care at end of life.
In the present qualitative study, we analyzed voices of female sexual assault survivors to enhance the survivor-centered framework. We reviewed over 1,000 comments from a survey asking participants to share experiences following their sexual assault. Participants were 460 female survivors, including 163 reporters (those who reported their sexual assault to police officers) and 297 nonreporters. We identified four core themes ( safety, empowerment and choice, collaboration, and explanation of procedures) as desired characteristics for the five key response personnel groups: patrol officers, detectives, sexual assault forensic examiner nurses, State's Attorney's Office staff, and victim advocates. We identified the strengths and weaknesses of each group based on the shared experiences of culturally marginalized and nonmarginalized reporters. A general free-text question answered by participants reflected on the four core themes, but also stressed the need for multiple layers of intervention in responding to sexual assault, as seen in two secondary themes ( extra support and systemic change). Nonreporters also stressed barriers to reporting and regrets about not reporting. The power of survivors’ narratives can be used to guide the criminal justice system to uphold a truly survivor-centered approach. The complexities of gender and power inequality between the perpetrators, survivors, and response personnel should also be addressed.
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