Reducing Negative Aging StereotypesviaEducational Intervention in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Anti-ageism interventions traditionally target younger individuals. We analyzed the effect of an educational intervention that combined an infusion of aging content with videos to reduce negative stereotypes toward aging in a randomized controlled study of 56 community-dwelling older adults. The experimental group received a single one-hour information session and video viewing on ageism; the control group viewed 1 hour of videos unrelated to ageism. Repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that the experimental group reported a significantly reduced Negative Stereotypes Toward Aging Questionnaire (CENVE) total score along with an independent measure of the character–personality factor in this questionnaire 1 week and 1 month after the intervention compared to baseline. The control group showed no changes. This work reports for the first time that a one-hour information session about aging combined with video viewing on ageism can efficiently reduce negative stereotypes of aging in older people in the short and medium term.

Effectiveness of a Process Based Intervention in Decreasing Internalized Ageism

“…Furthermore, our effect sizes were notably very large, relative to what was achieved by Doncel-García et al (2023). That the effect sizes within our current study were comparable to the change resulting from an intervention designed to systematically refute the items used to measure change is promising.…”

“…Other interventions focused solely on self-perceptions of aging found small effect sizes (Beyer et al, 2019), or no difference of self-perceptions of aging across experimental conditions (Menkin et al, 2022). Intervention outcomes pertaining to the outward manifestation of internalized ageism have been mixed, with research finding no impact (Lester & Murrell, 2022), small effects (Wolff et al, 2017), and in one case, large effects (Doncel-García et al, 2023). Doncel-García et al (2023) found large reductions in the endorsement of aging stereotypes.…”

“…Intervention outcomes pertaining to the outward manifestation of internalized ageism have been mixed, with research finding no impact (Lester & Murrell, 2022), small effects (Wolff et al, 2017), and in one case, large effects (Doncel-García et al, 2023). Doncel-García et al (2023) found large reductions in the endorsement of aging stereotypes. However, they did not consider self-perceptions of aging, and this intervention systematically refuted each of the 15 items used to operationalize aging stereotypes.…”