Resource shows how to implement intergenerational care

Griffith University has launched a new website with resources, news and facts about providing intergenerational programs in residential aged care.

The website is born out of two-year Griffith University’s Intergenerational Care Project, which evaluated the effectiveness of intergenerational models using a shared campus or visiting approach in residential and day-respite aged care in Queensland and New South Wales.

The study, which involved approximately 40 children aged three to five, 40 seniors, one aged care facility and three-day respite centres, found aged care recipients were able to form special bonds with children, improve their moods and reconnect with their past (read our story here).

Intergenerational Care Project chief investigator and program evaluation lead Professor Anneke Fitzgerald said the website aimed to share the project’s learnings and provide a guide and tools for implementing an intergenerational care program.

“The website acts as a platform for all things related to intergenerational care in Australia,” Professor Fitzgerald told Australian Ageing Agenda. 

“We have re-arranged the content from the old website to the new one in a more user-friendly manner,” Professor Fitzgerald said.

She said they were finalising a step-by-step operational guide to developing, implementing and evaluating intergenerational learning programs and a toolkit of resources including templates for consent forms and a budget spreadsheet.

The website includes:

• an overview of the study and its background
• preliminary research findings
• program development and implementation details
• the project’s evaluation and implications for the aged care sector.

It also includes links to video recordings from the project forums, where researchers discussed the project and key findings and published research on intergenerational care in Australia.

The operational guidelines and toolkit will be on the website by the end of the year, Professor Fitzgerald said.

News and research about other intergenerational projects in Australia and overseas will also be added at a later date.

Access the website here.

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