While looking through the resources in the Creating Aging Friendly Communities conference, I came across a reference to United Generations Ontario. This non-profit organization is "... dedicated to promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of other registered Canadian charities involved in providing benefits to members of different generations - children, youth, their parents and people of their parents' generation, seniors and other older adults." They provide a free pdf called Connecting Generations Toolkit: Best Practices in Intergenerational Programing.
This toolkit lists the benefits of intergenerational programs, such as:
- emotional support
- social role development
- mental stimulation
- understanding the needs of other generations
This toolkit also provides tips and recommendations about how to successfully create partnerships with other organizations to provide intergenerational programming. There is also a database of resources. However, the links to many of the websites and pdf files are not working through their search page. Here are some useful resources that I did find through the site:
Intergenerational Programs and Aging - with great program examples, resource links, and research about intergenerational programs (from Penn State University College of Agriculture Sciences).
Strengthening Families and Communities by Sharing Life Stories
Bridging the Gap
Tried and True: A Guide to Successful Intergenerational Activities at Shared Site Programs
2 comments:
This is a great Blog, informative as well. I did a recent blog post for Seniors
Stay connected. Best MT.
Thank you, MT. Your blog post lists several articles about using robots to help the elderly. I have recently read an article about how robot dogs cheer up nursing home residents as much as real therapy dogs (http://tinyurl.com/2c4z9a). However, the study did not control for just the effect of someone coming to visit them. I believe that people visiting and real dogs would be much more pleasant company for these residents, than simply interacting with a robot dog.
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