Raising Awareness of Ageism in County Louth

Description

The Raising Awareness of Ageism project began as part of the EU_SHAFE (European Union – Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments) project action plan. Addressing ageism is critical for creating a more equal world in which the dignity and rights of every human being are respected and protected. This is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the (WHO) worlds agreed blueprint for building a future of peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet. According to the WHO’s Global Report on Ageism, ageism is widespread in institutions, laws and policies across the world. It not only damages individual health and dignity but also economies and societies. Despite its pervasive nature and harmful impacts, ageism still lacks a solid knowledge base of dedicated research, information, data and analysis of trends. In order to address the issue of ageism the EU_SHAFE Project first needed to establish the levels of ageism in County Louth. In preparation for the development of the Louth EU_SHAFE Survey on ageing and ageism a literature review was carried out. A range of studies were reviewed along with ageism survey questionnaires. While the review included studies on age perception generally, specific studies on ageism in the workplace, health, financial and media were also targeted.
Having reviewed the literature and the questionnaires and scales, a survey to test the presence of ageism in County Louth was created which comprised four sections; 1. Demographics, 2. Self-perception, 3. Society’s attitude to ageing, and 4. Structural attitudes to age and ageing. The survey was created using Survey Monkey. The survey was launched on the 5th December at the Open Day for Louth’s Older People’s Council where attendees were invited to complete the survey. The online survey opened on the 7th December. In order to encourage participation in the survey variable recruitment strategies were employed. The survey was advertised on the Louth County Council Twitter account and through the Public Participation Network. An advertisement also appeared in the local newspapers while emails were sent to a range of organisations including older people’s groups and youth groups. A hard copy format was also made available in local libraries to avoid the exclusion of older people with no access to technology. The survey employed a mixed methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative question formats The survey was sampled by the Living Lab, Netwell Casala Advanced Research Centre, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk, Co. Louth First level analysis of the data was carried out by the project co-ordinator using Survey Monkey analytics. The data has been provided to the research team at TU Dublin in a csv format for more detailed analysis.
712 survey responses were recorded, either fully or partially completed.
The survey responses were analysed and a report completed in June 2023. A submission has been made to the Louth Local Economic and Community Plan 2023-2029 and it is expected that an action will be placed in the LECP to raise awareness around the issue of ageism.

Aim of Initiative

The overall aim of the project is the positively impact the lives of older adults by influencing policy to enable Smart Healthy Age Friendly Environments in our area. Focusing on ageism as an issue, our goal is to insert an action to address ageism in the Louth Local Economic and Community Plan 2023-2029 which is currently under review. Including an action within the Local Economic and Community Plan will not only highlight the issue of ageism across all of the sectors involved in the Local Community Development Committee including public representatives, public sector bodies, community representatives, statutory bodies but encourage organisations to undertake ageism awareness training.
While our objective has always been to improve the lives of our older adults directly through the LECP, an added benefit has accrued. The data collected will through our work with TU Dublin be added to the knowledge base of information and data on ageism

Who is it aimed at

The project is aimed at improving the quality of life of our older people by enabling Smart Healthy Age Friendly Environments. The project is further aimed at the whole of society to challenge their beliefs and behaviours around ageing and older people and how these attitudes can have a negative impact on our older people.

3 Steps critical to success

1. Research into ageism and development of the questions for our survey were critical to both our understanding of the issue and the delivery of a high quality survey which would provide sound evidence which forms the basis of our report.
2. Another critical step was to make sure that the survey got a good response. In order to this an advertising campaign was put in place using print advertising, social media channels, contacts with community groups registered with the PPN and through email. Without this campaign and its success, it is unlikely that we would have received the response we did
3. Support of the project Local Action Group which includes members from Local Government, HSE, Academia, Age Friendly Ireland, local councillors and other experts in the field of ageing was vital to the success of the project. Members of the LAG provided sound advice on all aspects of the survey from creation to dissemination to the Final Report.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. First and foremost, making sure that the survey had a wide variety of responses, not just focusing on the one demographic cohort. To do this we had to vary our methods of data collection so for those people who are not digitally literate, paper copies of the survey were available in the libraries throughout County Louth. Library staff were on hand to help people complete the survey especially those with literacy issues.
2. One challenge was the element of time, time to create the survey, collate and enter data (from hardcopies), analyse the data and write the Final Report. As a one-person team this proved quite challenging at times (but I am aware of the benefit of sharing this data now to ensure that awareness of ageism is raised and challenged where and when necessary).
3. Ensuring that the questionnaire design would produce reliable and valid data. To this end the survey was sampled by the Living Lab, in Dundalk Institute of Technology

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. The number of responses we received to the survey has created a broad evidence base for further work in the area of ageism. This will only serve to benefit our older people by raising awareness around issues such as language, the belief that older people are one homogenous grouping which does not reflect the truth, the digital divide issue and how we see older people on a day to day basis.
2. One of the major outcomes of the project is the data collected. This data is evidence of our attitudes to ageing and ageism and has formed the basis of our Final Report. Having evidence based information on ageism in County Louth can only improve policies and services therefore benefitting older people who feel that they are often invisible.
3. A wider outcome of the project is that there is enough geographical spread in the data collected that the results can be applied on a regional and national level. Having this information to hand means that other organisations who advocate for and support older people will have evidenced based data that they can use to support their work.