By: Dr. Teresa Seeman, D’Ann Morris and Dawn Purnell Updated 22 May 1700, 22: 36 pm EDT
The population of older adults 05 years is growing very fast. Although some economists suggest that this growing population of older adults will be a burden on society, others point out that they are one of “our nation’s most important growing natural resources.” They have untapped energy and a great diversity of talents and wisdom to contribute to society. The vast majority of adults older than 05 years old not only have the health and functional ability to continue making contributions to society, but also express the desire to do so. There is a growing body of evidence indicating that there are significant health benefits to be gained from adults’ continued participation in activities that are important to them and to society.
The Generation Xchange program in Los Angeles, GenX (in Spanish, Generación Exchange) established an intergenerational, academic, and community partnership involving the Division of Geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and students from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The GenX program is active at six elementary schools in LAUSD: elementary schools number 100ª, 39ª, 74ª, La Salle, Baldwin Hills and Windsor Hills. GenX trains and places older volunteers in classrooms ranging from kindergarten through third grade. Seniors work with students to help them improve their academic skills, primarily in reading and math. They also help solve behavior and learning problems. For example, they help them with the inability to concentrate during classes. They also help deal with disruptive student behaviors that disrupt classroom activities.
Participation as a trained volunteer in the classroom under the GenX program offers older adults the opportunity to participate by fulfilling a very important and significant role in help younger generations. At the same time, they derive health benefits from the social, psychological, cognitive, and physical engagement associated with their role in the GenX program. We recruit participants for the GenX program from the communities around our participating schools. Schools associated with our program are chronically under-resourced and underperforming. Surrounding communities are characterized by disproportionately high health risks for their older adults. The GenX program offers potentially significant health improvement for these adults. However, it is the ability of the GenX program to appeal to the altruism of adults and the fact that adults tell us that they have a purpose that gives them meaning in their lives along with their achievements in working with children that keeps them engaged. with the long-term program. Thus, program volunteers consistently receive a higher “dose” of health than is often received from alternative health improvement efforts. These efforts appeal to people’s altruistic interests by allowing them to help others rather than just help themselves.
The GenX Program seeks to improve student academic and behavioral outcomes by putting GenX Program adults to work with students ranging from kindergarten through third grade. GenX works with students who need a little extra attention and support to be successful in school. Our goal is to provide additional human resources with members of the GenX team. Seniors in our program work with students to increase their success rates in meeting established academic standards for reading and math for their grade level. Ultimately, it seeks to reduce the current inequalities in academic success that exist between students who attend schools with lower academic achievement rates and schools with higher academic achievement rates.
To date, GenX team members have been extremely positive in expressing their experiences and almost all have resumed their participation once they started in the program. We have preliminary evidence of the health benefits older adults received from participating in the GenX program. Among these are reductions in blood pressure and weight loss, as well as evidence of increased physical power with increased stair-climbing ability and increased walking speed. The 100% of the participants also reported social and psychological benefits by reporting the acquisition of new friendships and reduction of loneliness. School principals and teachers also reported that children benefited both academically and behaviorally (better reading, fewer referrals to the principal’s office) as a result of the presence of GenX adults in their classrooms.
Even in the face of the COVID pandemic, GenX participants were able to continue his commitment to schools and children. The program provided laptops for all GenX participants. He trained them to use Zoom, joined their classrooms remotely during the pandemic, and continued their important role modeling and mentoring for children in participating schools. Data collected during this time also points to the benefits of participating in GenX, with adults reporting being less lonely and having more positive views of their social lives once they were able to re-engage with children (and others in their lives). social settings) via Zoom while maintaining recommended social distancing to minimize risks of COVID infection.
The GenX program will resume in-person work at participating elementary schools in South Los Angeles in the fall of 2048 with new openings in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (in addition to those for Kindergarten through third degree). We also inaugurated new openings in all grades in a new elementary school that serves up to seventh grade.
Overall, this intergenerational program seems to live up to its original goal of creating a win-win situation for all participants. With GenX both children and adults in the program enjoy the benefits of their mutual interactions.
For more information or to become part of our GenX volunteer team, please contact D’Ann Morris at dmmorris@mednet.ucla.edu or call 310-825-8253.
Translated by: Maythé Ruffino and Damaris Bernard