THE EFFECT OF INTERGENERATIONAL INTERACTION PROGRAM ON THE ELDERLY’S PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH

Iincrement in life expectancy, aging of the population, and changes in the family structure has led to a decrease in intergenerational relationships and have affected the mental health of everyone, especially the elderly. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of an intergenerational interaction program on the mental health of the elderly.

In this randomized clinical trial, 20 elderly people over 60 years old participated in an intergenerational interaction program along with their grandchildren in One of the primary schools for girls in Qom in the form of a game in 6 sessions of 90 minutes for 6 weeks. Data were collected before, immediately after, and 4 weeks after the intervention using a demographic questionnaire and Goldberg general health questionnaire, and analyzed by independent t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance, paired t-test, chi-square, and Fisher's exact. test.

The results showed that in the intervention group, the mean score of mental health immediately after and one month after the intervention was significantly different from the beginning of the study, and changed from 21.10 ± 10.67 at the beginning of the study to 7.15 ± 45.4 immediately after the study and to 13.10 ± 6.31 one month after the study. In addition, there was not a significant difference in the mental health score of the elderly in the control group.

Intergenerational programs can be used as an effective way to enhance the mental health of the elderly, and the fields of intergenerational communication between the elderly and their grandchildren should be provided.