{"id":147,"date":"2020-02-03T08:49:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T08:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/upgrade-stop\/?p=147"},"modified":"2020-08-21T14:28:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T13:28:44","slug":"the-perception-of-ageing-and-age-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/the-perception-of-ageing-and-age-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"The perception of ageing and age discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

More about Dr Hannah Swift<\/a><\/p>\n

More about Professor Dominic Abrams<\/a><\/p>\n

About<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The European Commission (2000) defines discrimination\u00a0as \u201cthe application of different treatment in a negative and\u00a0unfavourable\u00a0way, on the basis of race or origin, ethnicity, religion or convictions, handicap,\u00a0sexual orientation\u00a0or\u00a0age<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ageism\u2019 (Butler, 1969) was first used to describe prejudice and discrimination against people because of their perceived old age.\u00a0More recent conceptualizations of ageism understand it as stereotypes about and discriminatory\u00a0behavioursagainst a person or a group\u00a0because of their age<\/em>\u00a0(this may include young, middle-aged or older persons).\u00a0\u00a0In that way, ageism can affect anyone and at any age.<\/p>\n

Research objectives<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Outline common negative & positive perceptions of ageing in the UK<\/p>\n

\u2022 Explore the consequences of these perceptions on decision-making, health and well-being later in life.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Explore how these perceptions underpin prejudice and discrimination in health and social care.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Highlight the circumstances that perpetuate negative perceptions of ageing & situations that put individuals at increased risk of experiencing ageism.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Provide practical recommendations for mitigating ageism in health and social care and for minimising its impact on employees and users of this service.<\/p>\n

Programme and methodology<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2022 Literature review on positive and negative perceptions of ageing<\/p>\n

\u2022 Literature review of instances of ageism in healthcare settings<\/p>\n

Key findings<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Older people are generally perceived as a burden to the health service and economy<\/p>\n

\u2022 Ageing associated with increased\u00a0wisdom, experience and morality<\/p>\n

\u2022 ‘Doddering but dear\u2019 –\u00a0Ageing linked to feelings of pity<\/p>\n

\u2022 Stereotypes about ageing affecting the self<\/p>\n

\u2022 Targets of ageist discrimination associated with worse psychological and physical well-being<\/p>\n

\u2022 Health-care professionals (e.g., nurses) often hold implicit attitudes (operating outside conscious awareness\/control) that may devalue older patients<\/p>\n

\u2022 Eldercare settings can be dehumanising if they do not offer opportunities for personalisation<\/p>\n

\u2022 Older persons are denied healthcare treatment or treated less\u00a0favourably<\/p>\n

\u2022 Language used to address older persons can be\u00a0patronising<\/p>\n

Impact<\/h3>\n

\u2022 This project offered new and important insight on understanding perceptions of ageism in the UK<\/p>\n

\u2022 The findings show a clear pattern of prejudice towards older people and especially in social and health care settings<\/p>\n

\u2022 The findings have important\u00a0implications for policy makers<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Social narratives that portray older people as a burden on health care and the economy need to be challenged<\/p>\n

\u2022 Social narratives need to highlight older persons\u2019 contribution to society and services of the economy<\/p>\n

\u2022 Policy makers should ensure those training health care professionals are aware of how negative perceptions influence behaviours<\/p>\n

\u2022 The findings also have\u00a0important implications for health care:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Health care professionals and organisations should understand the ways implicit attitudes may affect staff interactions with older patients<\/p>\n

\u2022 Health care professions should avoid dehumanisation and negative stereotypes by (for example) using communal spaces and ensuring co-production<\/p>\n

\u2022 Health care organisation should identity and address the conditions that create poor quality interactions with older patients.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More about Dr Hannah Swift More about Professor Dominic Abrams About The European Commission (2000) defines discrimination\u00a0as \u201cthe application of different treatment in a negative and\u00a0unfavourable\u00a0way, on the basis of race or origin, ethnicity, religion or convictions, handicap,\u00a0sexual orientation\u00a0or\u00a0age\u201d. \u2018Ageism\u2019 (Butler, 1969) was first used to describe prejudice and discrimination against people because of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2271,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/2271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/stop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}