Making Intergenerational Connections Through Arts

Making Intergenerational Connections Through Arts

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the impact on older adults' wellbeing of participating in a 10-week conversation about arts and culture with an international university student whose native language is not English.

Older adults residing in subsidized housing will participate in a series of online conversations over 10 weeks about various arts and culture with an international university student enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB); each weekly session will last for about 30 min to one hour.

Participants will complete survey questionnaires before and after the 10-week conversation program, and an exit interview at the end of the conversation program.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Live alone
2. older than 60 years old
3. Residence in a subsidized apartment for at least one year
4. Able to carry on a daily conversation with or without hearing aids
5. Intact cognition as indicated by a score of greater than 5 on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ)
6. have a working smart phone that can do video-conferencing
7. being able to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. having physical, or sensory (visual or hearing) deficits or language barriers (non-English communicators) that may impede study participation
2. non-English speaker