Psychological intervention in intergenerational settings: Results from P-I-N Program in Cri(activa) age, health and well-being.

Abstract

Background Intergenerational programs involving children and seniors represent valuable psychological and social interventions that foster the development of cognitive, linguistic, motor, emotional, and social skills, leading to improved well-being. Research indicates significant positive outcomes for both children and seniors, such as enhanced intergenerational socialization, increased self-esteem and self-efficacy, intellectual development, greater happiness, and an overall improvement in the quality of life (Zeanat Ebrahimi et al., 2020). In Portugal, there is a lack of psychological interventions in this domain, which provides the rationale for our proposal. We introduce the P-IN Program: Intergenerational Psychological Intervention Program – Cri(activ)age, Health, and Well-Being (Candeias & Felix, 2023). This program focuses on fostering verbal fluency, cognitive preservation/development, and overall well-being through intergenerational coexistence. The P-IN program has two primary objectives: (i) to promote cognitive development/ preservation, verbal fluency, and well-being through intergenerational psychological interventions for children aged 5–6 and seniors aged 60 and above; (ii) to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention on cognitive development/preservation, Verbal Fluency, and well-being. Participants and Procedure This paper outlines the conceptual structure of the program, organised into three main components: Beliefs and Attitudes, Emotions and Well-Being, and Cognitive Stimulation and Verbal Fluency. The program consists of ten 90-minute sessions. Additionally, we present the impact of the intervention program on Cognitive functioning, verbal fluency and wellbeing, in both group of participants elders and children (23 children and 18 seniors). Results and conclusions Among the notable results, we observed an increase in autonomy, cognitive functioning, especially, verbal fluency for both groups.