CREATIVE CONNECTIONS: A SWEDISH-AMERICAN EXPLORATION OF WAYS TO REDUCE ISOLATION AMONG OLDER ADULTS

摘要

This international symposium explores creative ways older adults manage social isolation and stay connected despite facing significant challenges. It makes recommendations for practice, research and education in the global context. Four studies spanning methodologies that were conducted by Swedish and American scholars in the helping professions, highlight participants’ resiliencies. The first paper explores communicative practices captured through video-recorded interactions among couples affected by Alzheimer’s Disease. A conversational analysis highlights alternating stances of knowing and not knowing, with implications for care practices. The next paper explores ways LGBTQ older adults describe requests for future services from elder care, with implications for care decision-making among this population. Interviews reveal that “feeling accepted” guided preferences about service utilization, and that this feeling was not dependent on having LGBTQ status recognized. Through the lens of a quantitative study, the third paper explores ways older adults engage with social media, and how this engagement can be harnessed to reduce isolation, especially among homebound older adults. Findings call for more investigation of the role of social media among older adults. The fourth paper reports on student-led photovoice research. It argues for greater integration of intergenerational practice in social work education to reduce isolation experienced across age groups among culturally diverse, immigrant urban residents. The symposium makes a significant statement about resiliencies among older adults facing significant challenges that put them at risk for the negative consequences of isolation. In addition, as an international collaboration, is illustrates how creative connections can improve practice in the global context.