Bridging the Intergenerational Gap in Therapeutic Activity Delivery Between Younger Professional Caregivers and Older Adults Living With Dementia

Many older individuals have cohort-specific knowledge that may not be known by young caregivers. By providing familiar information, using Montessori principles that key into the remaining abilities of those with dementia, it is possible for the younger caregivers to successfully facilitate satisfying, interactive programs. Forty activity directors and staff, age 25–50, in long-term care settings interacted with residents age 56–100 in groups of 10 or more in both an activity intervention and standard activities. The younger caregivers indicated positive responses to the activity intervention and demonstrated increases in positive attitudes toward cognitively impaired, elderly residents, which was due to the intervention that provides the structure and materials to overcome both the skills gap and intergenerational knowledge gap for those staff that have them.