Our research has addressed the potential for community-based intergenerational engagement to benefit older adults’ health and wellbeing.

1. Community-based intergenerational engagement:
investigating the impacts on older adult volunteers.
Dr Louise Nicholls
School of Psychological Sciences & Health, University of Strathclyde
Generations Working Together – March 2021
@LNichollsStrath
@StrathAgeing

2. Population ageing
UN (2012): proportion of older adults (60+ yrs) set to double by 2050
- We must celebrate this!

3. Centre for Ageing Better (2019)
Older people are happier!

4. Charities Aid Foundation (2017)
Older people contribute!

5. • We should recognise and celebrate the positives of ageing (UN
& HelpAge International, 2012)
- but also address social and economic challenges
• There is an urgent need for public health action for healthy
ageing (WHO, 2015)
- e.g. “which interventions work to foster healthy ageing?”
• ‘Decade of Healthy Ageing 2020-30’: ‘intergenerational
solidarity’
“A celebration and a challenge”

6. • There may be benefits of social, intellectual, and physical engagement for brain
functioning (Reuter-Lorenz & Park, 2014) and wider health and wellbeing (e.g.
Schooler, 2007)
• ‘Everyday’ forms of engagement are typically holistic by increasing social, intellectual,
and physical activity simultaneously
• Potential to enhance:
- brain health and thinking skills (e.g. memory, attention)
- physical health (e.g. everyday physical activity/functional level)
- psycho-social wellbeing (e.g. loneliness, social networks)
Theoretical background

7. • Successful ageing is accompanied by the desire to be
needed by ‘giving back’ to younger generations
(Erikson et al., 1986)
• Intergenerational engagement (IE) can involve a
variety of age groups, contexts, activities
• Will (should!?) vary according to the aims of the
project
• But, we need a stronger evidence base regarding the
health outcomes
Intergenerational practice

8. Systematic review
• We aimed to review systematically the
evidence for older adults’ (60+) cognitive,
social, and health and wellbeing outcomes of
participating in community-based IE.
• The protocol was pre-registered with
PROSPERO and is available at:
http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/displa
y_record.php?ID=CRD42017082732
• We followed the Centre for Reviews and
Dissemination’s guidelines for undertaking
reviews in health care (CRD, 2009).
• Study quality assessed using the Mixed
Methods Appraisal Tool (Hong et al., 2018)

9. Cognition Health & Wellbeing Social Functioning
Studies finding significant
benefits
2 out of 5 21 out of 30 16 out of 24
Example outcomes assessed Attention, memory, level of
cognitive engagement
Depression, anxiety,
physical functioning (e.g.
falls, grip strength)
Generativity, cross-age
attitudes, social interactions
Systematic review findings
• We identified potential benefits of a wide variety of IE programmes, most notably regarding
anxiety, generativity, cross-age attitudes, and physical activity
• More high-quality, homogenous evidence is needed
• Limited evidence of the impact of IG programmes on cognition
• Review preprint (prior to peer review) openly available at: https://psyarxiv.com/g6qh8/

11. • US-based Experience Corps aims to benefit older adults’ health and
wellbeing and schools’ social and academic
• Extremely successful: 2,000 highly-trained volunteers working in more than
20 cities with over 30,000 students every year
• Benefits older adults’ attention and brain volume (Carlson et al., 2008,
2015), and social support (Fried et al., 2004)
• Also benefits overall ‘school climate’, and ‘learning environment’ (Parisi et
al., 2016)
• However, intensive for volunteers (15 hrs/wk) and costly to run
Experience Corps

12. • Our own pilot study was aimed at establishing and testing a protocol for primary
school-based intergenerational engagement in Scotland (‘Generation for Generation’)
• Gain pilot data of health, social and cognitive outcomes of lower-dose engagement (2
x 4 hrs per week)
• Engagement centred on helping young children’s literacy and numeracy (but physical
and social stimulation should follow)
• We will then seek to adjust the protocol if required, and then deliver a larger-scale
trial to test the outcomes fully
Our pilot study…

13. Methods/timeline
- PVG & health screening
- baseline testing (cognitive, physical,
& psycho-social functioning)
Control OR intervention group
(N = 36; 8 hrs/week for 6 months)
3-month & 6-month follow-up
testing
Focus groups (children, teachers, volunteers),
volunteers’ diaries, & school climate
questionnaires

14. Generation for Generation in practice…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-46664990/old-and-young-come-together-to-learn

15. Cognitive outcomes (preliminary)
• Reliable difference in the pattern of outcomes over time for short-term memory, long-term
memory, and learning (but not in attention or processing speed, at least at 6 months)

16. Social outcomes (preliminary)
• Reliable difference in the pattern of outcomes over time for cross-age attitudes (e.g. how
active-passive, friendly-unfriendly, happy-sad, likeable-unlikeable participants viewed
schoolchildren) and generative achievement (but not generative desire)

17. Health & wellbeing outcomes (preliminary)
• Reliable difference in the pattern over time for sleep quality (daytime dysfunction) but not
for depression, life satisfaction, loneliness, physical activity measures, and the other sleep
quality measures, although loneliness shows promise…

18. Summary
• Our systematic review showed a range of potential health benefits of IE for older adults
• Relatively robust (positive) findings for anxiety, generativity, cross-age attitudes, and physical
activity
• More high-quality research needed, though, and more research on cognitive outcomes
• Our pilot randomised, controlled trial shows a range of potential health benefits of IE
• Potential benefits for 3 out of 5 cognitive outcomes, 2 out of 3 social functioning measures, but
only 1 health outcome (sleep sub-scale)
• Typically, improvements after 3 months with further engagement maintaining levels
• These preliminary results must be treated with extreme caution and verified after a full, high-
powered trial
• Watch this space for preprints of our reports on the pilot trial findings and the accompanying
qualitative research with volunteers and schools!

19. Thank you! 
Acknowledgements:
l.nicholls@strath.ac.uk
@LNichollsStrath / @AnnaKStrath / @StrathAgeing
Louise A. Brown Nicholls / Anna Krzeczkowska
Prof. Alan Gow
(Heriot-Watt University)
Prof. Michelle Carlson
(Johns Hopkins University)
Dr Will McGeown
(University of Strathclyde)
Anna Krzeczkowska
(University of Strathclyde)
David Spalding (University of Strathclyde)
Our volunteers!
West Lothian Council, West Lothian Schools, Teachers, & Pupils
Generations Working Together