ABC television’s “Old People’s Home for 4-Year-Olds”, brought smiles to faces young, old and in between, as it demonstrated how rich and beneficial the connections between generations can be.
Emeritus Professor Anneke Fitzgerald, a health management research expert, oversaw Griffith University’s five-year Intergenerational Care Project and was involved in both pre and post-production for the popular docuseries.
With a small team of volunteers, she’s now established the not-for-profit Australian Institute for Intergenerational Practice (AIIP), based at Cohort Innovation Space in the Precinct, to address the gaps between the identified benefits of intergenerational care and current practices in aged, child and community care.
“Through AIIP we seek to educate, train and support care providers to formalise the beneficial intergenerational activities that occur in families and communities within care settings, using evidence-based practices, which are guided by research,” says Professor Fitzgerald.
“By learning with and from each other, these activities generate inclusive, age-friendly communities for children, teenagers, older adults, the workforce, volunteers and the wider community.”
With an ageing population – the number of people in home care has tripled in the last decade, while numbers in permanent residential aged care increased by 13%, according to GEN Aged Care data (2019-20) – there is a significant focus on improving the wellbeing of older people, particularly in light of major issues spotlighted in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and ongoing concerns during the pandemic.
“Purposeful intergenerational activities have been proven to give older people a sense of purpose and improved mood; reduce or delay cognitive and physical decline, including dementia; reduce social isolation; enhance dignity and encourage older people to remain living at home for longer.”
Of course, the benefits run both ways, with children improving pro-social behaviours of sharing, helping and cooperating while gaining increased confidence and communication skills and evidence showing a decreased likelihood of juvenile delinquency later in life.
AIIP Interim CEO Emma Woods believes the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct provides a unique opportunity, through co-location of a new aged care facility, including a training centre, close to the innovative early learning and child development ‘living lab’, being established in the Proxima development.
“The co-location, together with opportunities to have input into the design of both facilities, will hopefully enable us to be able to demonstrate best-practice in intergenerational care,” Ms Woods says.
“To be able to work closely with paediatric researchers and early childhood educators in Proxima, together with being involved in training of the next-generation aged care workforce, will enable us to easily translate research and pilot programs that can then be expanded across Australia.”
“Our vision is to benefit the whole community by reducing ageism and the care burden in society, while improving satisfaction for care workers and volunteers.”
This article first appeared at Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct.