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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Breaking the silence of ageism by teaching psychology musically | | Author(s) | Beverly L Harju |
| Journal title | Educational Gerontology, vol 24, no 6, September 1998 |
| Pages | pp 585-593 |
| Keywords | Mental health [elderly] ; Ageism ; Music ; Teaching methods ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Whereas ageism attitudes are pervasive across age groups, the collusion of silence about ageing is often invoked whenever an older person communicates with a younger person. This pattern of silent denial - or minimal address of ageing issues - is also evident in psychology textbooks and presumably among teachers. This article proposes a method for managing the presentation of difficult material, and describes a procedure for transforming current attitudes to more accepting values. The music sonata provided a compassionately structured model; rather than a minimal address of ageing, this course in life span development both began and ended with late adults as the theme topic. They were presented as the role models and comparison group. Active discourse and appropriate self-disclosure were used to provide safe structures for the expression of experiences and opinions about ageing. Ageism was analysed to exemplify the process of stereotyping, and as an effort to build more accepting values about ageing. Most of the students' written opinions and comments favourably endorsed this thematic focus on older adults. Many stated that they could both identify and communicate more with older adults. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-981012006 A |
| Classmark | D: B:TOB: HH: VB: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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