Promoting adult health and development with an intergenerational program
Abstract
At the University of Maryland, College Park, an adult health and development program employs physical and social activities and health education in an intergenerational context that has a solid conceptual basis, employs systematic evaluative research, and is enjoyable. As a result of this distinctive curriculum, unique bonds are formed between older adults and students, older adults improve in overall health and well-being, and participants return year after year. Daniel Leviton submitted this effective practice in February 2004.Issue
Implementing/utilizing programs that positively affect the health, well-being and health knowledge of older adults, while simultaneously training younger students and volunteers about aging, different cultures, and history.Action
The Adult Health and Development Program (AHDP) at the University of Maryland, College Park, is an intergenerational health promotion and rehabilitation program in which college students and volunteers (staffers) are paired with older adults (members) for the purpose of engaging in health and wellness activities.
Five keys to the success of the ADHP are:
1. The unique use of physical activities and health education as a means of improving physical activity status, self-concept, subjective and objective health and well-being, health knowledge, control over one's own health, and friendships.
2. The special bond that develops between members and staffers.
3. The thorough education, training, and supervision of staffers.
4. Honoring the wishes and expressed needs of the members rather than "telling" them what is "best."
5. Loyalty within and to the program by staffers and members. The AHDP operates for eleven Saturdays during each semester. Between 60-120 staffers are trained to work with older adult members, using the ACAEM paradigm, on a one-on-one basis. The ACAEM paradigm is comprised of the following elements:
- Assessment: staffers make an assessment of the member's medical, physical fitness, and psychosocial health status.
- Creativity: A plan consisting of physical activity, health education and friendship is designed to meet needs identified through the assessment. The plan is always designed in collaboration with the member.
- Action: The member and staffer engage in the mutually agreed upon activities. The staffer helps his or her member establish a health and well-being pattern of behavior by participation in the physical, social, and health education activities of the AHDP.
- Evaluation: The staffer evaluates the results, asking questions such as "Did the member enjoy the activity?" "Was there any progress or potential for progress?" and "If the activities were not well received, how could they be modified?"
- Modification: Following evaluation, the individualized program is modified, and the process is repeated.
- The day starts at 8:30 am, when staffers arrive for training. Staffers are university and high school students from a variety of majors as well as volunteers from Volunteer Centers, who receive special training and close supervision from senior staff. A key to the program is that staffers are trained as friendly coaches to work on a one-on-one with their members to develop a unique health and wellness program specifically tailored to each member.
- Training for staffers involves both the dissemination of knowledge and subject matter, and processing of the information. Topics include AHDP theory and philosophy; the AHDP coaching model, and a version of psychosocial stress theory; empathy exercises; safety; physical fitness, health and aging; cognitive impairments; working with a member who uses a wheel chair; motivation of the AHDP member and staffers; preparing for the end of the semester's program; intimacy and sexuality; and drug interactions and side effects.
- Members arrive at 9:30 a.m. and morning activities begin — continuing through the Health Education hour at 11:30 am. Some of the activities offered include low-impact exercise group, swimming and water aerobics, weight training, trampoline jumping, billiards, Tai Chi, morning walks, 3-wheel biking, dancing, parties, special celebrations, and socializing with a friend.
- The last half hour is personal time during which members and staffers have an opportunity to share the day's accomplishments with each other before saying goodbye until the next Saturday.
- Staffers meet with group leaders at noon to reflect on their experiences with their members. Each novice and experienced staffer is supervised by a group leader and an associate group leader. As the senior group leaders, associate directors, and specialists gain in experience, they increasingly conduct training. Group leaders, associate group leaders, the associate directors, specialists and advocates (for the foreign born, developmentally disabled, and institutionalized groups) make up the senior staff.
Context
The Adult Health and Development Program (AHDP) at the University of Maryland at College Park is a 32-year-old academic course and volunteer program. Members are from one of four groups: People residing in the community; foreign-born — mostly Latino/Latino; those who are developmentally challenged; and Veterans Administration Nursing Home residents - all of whom use wheel chairs. In the spring 2004 semester 80 staffers, 30 senior staffers, and 80 members participated.
The cornerstone of the program is health promotion — using a strategy primarily directed at postponement of chronic illness and improvement of vitality through increased physical, psychological and social activity. The AHDP is designed to teach the members that they have some significant control of their wellness by translating health theory into practice.
Outcome
- Improvement in aspects of members' own subjective health assessment and well-being: Nearly all members (greater than 95 percent) strongly agree that the Adult Health and Development Program (AHDP) was fun, wish to return in a subsequent semester, and positively affected their health and well-being.
- Value given to the staffers, program, and university: Over 90 percent of student-staffers applying to medical and other professional schools have been accepted.
The outcomes of the program reflect its goals to:
- Positively affect the health, sense of well-being, physical activity, and health knowledge status of the older adult.
- Allow the student and other staffers to learn about aging, old age, history, and different cultures.
- Serve as a catalyst for integrating various age, ethnic groups, the university, and community to work toward the common purpose of goals numbers one and two.
- Contribute to world peace and global cooperation by integrating a variety of individuals into a mutually supportive and purposeful group.
Evidence
Formal pre- and post-objective and subjective evaluations:Members fill out a multi-item, Likert-type (1=very much agree to 5=very much disagree) Survey-Evaluation Inventory (SEI) on the first and last days of the program. The SEI's purpose is to determine the fit between the member's expectations of the program (pre-test) and perceived outcomes (post-test). Results indicated that, generally, all members expected and received positive benefits from their AHDP experience.
Return rates of members and staffers:
- About 33 percent of members return each semester.
- The average number of semesters both members and senior staffers are involved in the program is about 7.7. Some have been involved for well over 20 semesters.
Posted On
April 8, 2004For More Information