Intergenerational Programs Improve Quality of Life for Seniors

Intergenerational programs significantly improve the quality of life for older Australians living alone.

### Intergenerational Program Improves Quality of Life for Older Australians Living Alone
* 👴👵 45% of older Australians over 65 live alone, often leading to **loneliness, inactivity, and depression**.
* 🧒👵 The intergenerational program pairs older adults living alone with young children as "**personal trainers**" to motivate and engage them.
* 📈 Results show **significant improvements** in both the children's and older adults' well-being, with quality of life increasing from **less than 5 to over 10** for many participants.
* 🇦🇺 The success of the program provides evidence for its **effectiveness in helping older Australians maintain independence and stay at home longer**.
* 💬 "The fact that Maureen has improved without doing a physiotherapy program means that there's something extra that the children have brought that **I couldn't have brought to her before this**."
* 🏛 The next step is to use this evidence to **advocate for the expansion of similar programs across Australia**, including discussions with the government.
* 👵 "They were preparing for my funeral a few months ago, and I think we'll put that on hold. **That's how I'm feeling**."

[Music] there are four bedrooms, and there's me. It's bloody awful. I eat with the television. You don't feel as though you're alone because you've got something to watch. I do everything myself: cooking, cleaning, and ironing. I don't know for how long that will last because it gets harder and harder even to walk. There's about 3.7 million older Australians, people over the age of 65. 45% of those live alone. Generally, older people really fear going into an aged care facility because they lose their autonomy, they lose their freedom, they lose their home. In our second social experiment, we're looking at older people who are living alone at home. The reason older people are often living alone at home is because they've lost their partner or their family are no longer in the picture. So, there's grief, there's loneliness, there's loss, and they tend to become much more inactive physically and much more inactive mentally. This can lead to depression. In order to make a positive change, we need to show that intergenerational

programs work in the community in Australia. Children have that energy that really can get older people up and moving. Yeah, the four-year-olds are there as personal trainers. They're there to motivate the older participants, to give them a reason to get up in the morning, to stretch their abilities. Come on, guys, bringing those two generations together is really important. Draw the line down. It gives the older person a sense of belonging. I love you. And it gives the child a sense of understanding older people and learning from them and their experiences. All through testing, we saw changes in the children. Their speech improved, their confidence, their ability to interact, particularly with older people, really improved. [Music] We also tested our older adults. The results are in, and they're overwhelmingly positive. 10.66. When I first met you, that took you 18 seconds. The fact that Maureen has improved without doing a physiotherapy program means that there's something extra that the children have brought that I couldn't have brought to her before this. There was nothing good to

look forward to, but now you wake up, you think, Oh, under the shower, and get dressed and go to see what the day is going to bring. Do you remember what you rated your quality of life as when we first met? It was five. Oh, five. Got it. No, it's better than that. Oh my God, 10. Half of our participants said that their quality of life was less than 5 out of 10 at the beginning. Not one of them rated their quality of life that poorly at the end. The results of this experiment really give us the evidence that we need to show that intergenerational programs are effective. This is enabling them to maintain their independence and stay at home as long as possible. We need to take this evidence and use it to get this sort of program spread much more widely by talking with government about how to encourage this concept right across Australia. They were preparing for my funeral a few months ago, and I think we'll put that on hold. That's how I'm feeling.

Can spending time with 4 year olds improve your health? | Old People's Home For 4 Year Olds

ABC iview

Many older Australians live alone, with 45% of those over 65 feeling the impact of loneliness and loss.

The fear of losing autonomy and freedom keeps them from moving into aged care facilities.

This isolation can lead to physical and mental inactivity, resulting in depression, highlighting the need for intergenerational support to make a positive change.

Programs in Australia are bringing together children and older adults, with four-year-olds acting as motivators for the older participants.

This collaboration fosters a sense of belonging for the older individuals and helps children understand and learn from their experiences.

The initiative has shown positive results, with improvements in speech, confidence, and interaction skills for both the children and older adults.

Participants' quality of life ratings improved significantly from an average of 5 to 10 after the program.

The experiment's results provide strong evidence for the effectiveness of intergenerational programs in helping individuals maintain independence and stay at home longer.

There is a call to spread these programs more widely across Australia by engaging with the government.