Recreating the common good: Intergenerational community action

Intergenerational program evaluation and research have focused predominantly on the potential of intergenerational interventions to change the attitudes of children and youth toward elders. This study extends intergenerational research beyond attitude change by examining the ways in which intergenerational community action---that is, older adults and youth working together to address a community issue of mutual concern---can promote the empowerment and communal coping orientation of youth and seniors, two groups with the least amount of formal social power. A qualitative intervention research approach involving baseline and final semi-structured interviews, mid- and end-of-the-year mono-generational focus groups, and ongoing participant observation was used to collect data from a seven-month "Intergenerational Community Action Group" (IGCA). This innovative theory-based model utilized empowerment and communal coping theories as a framework to guide the intervention and to evaluate outcomes. Five undergraduates and five elderly assisted living residents met weekly to design and implement an action project, while engaging in skill acquisition, shared leadership, participatory decision-making, and group-building processes.; Outcomes of the IGCA group revealed that empowerment was conceptualized differently by young and older adults. Students benefited from gaining knowledge and skills and from exposure to elders who served as role models for empowerment in late life. However, for the older adult participants empowerment was less consistently meaningful, even while they benefited from the opportunity to work with others toward change.; A full-fledged sense of communal coping among participants was not a primary outcome, perhaps because the group did not share a mutual "stressor" or threat. However, participants developed communal feelings and engaged in communal behavior, two key aspects of a communal coping orientation. Other benefits of the IGCA group included the development of strong intergenerational relationships and high satisfaction with the action project.; Challenges in conducting intergenerational community action involved negotiating generational differences in action project preferences, in communication styles, and in methods of completing project-related tasks. The results of this research inform social work practice by suggesting strategies for bringing youth and older adults together to affect change in their communities.