[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”32px” header_text_color=”#000000″ header_font_size=”36px”]Frailty and care
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_accordion _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Introduction” open=”on” open_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”justify” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”15px” text_orientation=”left” hover_enabled=”0″ toggle_text_color=”#000000″ toggle_text_align=”left” toggle_font_size=”22px” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
The photos, text and audio clips in this section express the research participants\u2019 thoughts on all three research questions presented to them: 1) What are your perceptions of<\/em> old age in contemporary society as typically depicted in the media and popular culture<\/em>? 2) What does<\/em> old age actually look like to you, irrespective of what society and media depict as old age? and <\/em>3) How would you like old age to be portrayed in media and popular culture? <\/em>There was similarity in the discussions around frailty in older age by participants in both groups of younger and older adults. In general, both groups objected to the most common model of aging and old age that is promoted by media and popular culture: the image of the \u2018physically frail and\/or cognitively impaired elderly\u2019 person. While there is frailty in older age, participants felt that this very prevalent and stereotypical image is not equally balanced by images in film, TV, or print media that portray older people as active and engaged in life. All but one participant in the older age group and all of the participants in the younger age group commented on the stereotyping of older adults<\/em><\/a>. In addition, all 11 participants in the older group and 4 out of 5 participants in the younger group were very concerned about the focus of media and popular culture on illness and decline in old age.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Discussion – younger age group” open_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”justify” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”15px” text_orientation=”left” hover_enabled=”0″ toggle_text_color=”#000000″ toggle_text_align=”left” toggle_font_size=”22px” open=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The responses from the younger group of participants around frailty concentrated on two topics: 1) the representation by media and popular culture of old age as frailty (or passivity) as the number one model of old age; and 2) the societal and family influences that shaped their perceptions of frailty and decline in older age. All five participants in the younger age group acknowledged that frailty (and\/or passivity) were the most common stereotypical images of old age reflected in media, with the other two being: the \u2018wise woman or man<\/em>\u2019 and the \u2018Freedom 55\u2019<\/em> image, (which will be discussed in the next section on \u2018Gender and class – bias and inequality\u2019<\/em><\/a>). They all rejected the stereotype of older age as frailty and\/or dependency. One participant felt that all stereotypes should be replaced by \u201cnuance, dimension, and vibrancy.\u201d Still another participant found it difficult to create images for the 3rd question as to how old age should be represented in popular culture, because although she was opposed to stereotypes, she also believed that old age should not be represented as \u201canything\u201d by media or popular culture. Instead, because old age has many faces, it should be shown through a multitude of interpretations and images, just as any age is presented in varied and individual ways. However, she did suggest that highlighting positive intergenerational relationships would help to generate a more constructive image of aging. Her comments on the importance of intergenerational relationships have resonance with academic discussions and articles on the detrimental effects of the social separation of young and older adults in modern industrialized society, as well as the benefits of positive intergenerational relationships (Hagestad & Uhlenberg, 2005; Cadieux, et al, 2019). In addition, this same participant felt that media had a responsibility to show that health problems can come at any age, not just old age. One of the responses by a male participant echoed her opinion. He believed that focusing on frailty in old age should be avoided as illness and death can come at any time, plus people face their health challenges in different ways: \u201cOlder people are individuals and all age differently.\u201d Considering the question from a completely different perspective, one male participant felt that because he was not yet an older person it would be presumptuous of him to suggest how old age should be portrayed in media and popular culture, and instead should be decided by people in the older age population who were being represented.<\/p>\n The responses from both participant groups very often came out of their own life experiences in their families. Within the younger age group, one female participant\u2019s awareness of frailty in older age grew out of her personal experience and knowledge of frailty and serious illness in her family background in which poverty, chronic health issues, and early death were the reality for many family members. She also had a very keen awareness of the class inequality embedded in this situation. Another female participant\u2019s perspective of frailty was formed through positive interactions within her large intergenerational Middle Eastern family. Because of the support and interdependence within her family for family members who experienced ill health or hospitalizations, she had not developed a fear of frailty and old age. The other female participant also had a positive outlook on older age connected to personal experiences and role models provided by active and healthy family members in their 60s-80s. Consequently, she found the media portrayals of older people as passive and sedentary very untrue and insulting to older adults (and to the general population). She felt that these representations were harmful and should be replaced by media images, and film and television depictions of the older population engaged in a wide variety of physical activities that were common to all age groups. One of the male participants formed his opinions on aging largely through personal relationships with people, young and old, some of whom had dealt with chronic health issues and physical limitations, yet he witnessed them handling their issues with a positive attitude and living productive and healthy lives as best as they could. Consequently, these experiences may have influenced his point of view that how each person deals with aging is a matter of personal choice. With a critical eye on media, the other male participant discussed the negative impact of seeing numerous pharmaceutical ads on TV for dementia medications when he visited his family in the US. These ads, combined with seemingly constant news clips about dementia on mainstream TV networks, such as Fox, spread anxiety and fear about dementia. He found that he was not immune from the effects of these advertisements.<\/p>\n Academic literature reflects the observations made by some of the participants about the rewarding effects of intergenerational relationships and positive interactions with older adults can have on our own attitudes about age and aging (Cadieux, et al., 2019; Babcock, 2016; Gullette, 2004). Although positive benefits of family relationships were noted by the majority of the participants, one male participant also described how his attitudes toward the aging process were negatively impacted by his mother and aunts who used numerous anti-aging products and services in their almost obsessive quest to remain \u201cyouthful.\u201d As a result of his exposure to this culture of staying young, combined with the barrage of TV ads on dementia he experienced when he visited his family, he i<\/em>nte<\/em>rnalized a fear of aging<\/em><\/a> at a relatively young age.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Discussion – older age group” open_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default” body_text_align=”justify” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”15px” text_orientation=”left” hover_enabled=”0″ toggle_text_color=”#000000″ toggle_text_align=”left” toggle_font_size=”22px” open=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The majority of the older group of participants were very concerned about the primary media representation of aging as frailty and decline<\/em><\/a>. Included in this stereotypical model of old age are depictions of dementia, loneliness, incompetence, and dependency. Participant insight on this topic is also mirrored by academic research on aging and older age over the last two decades, which suggests that the negative stereotyping of aging as physical and cognitive decline is still a pervasive model of aging in North American society (Binstock, 2005; Revera Report on Ageism, 2012; Higgs & Gilleard, 2014), while other negative stereotypes have been added over that period of time which include: mental and technological incompetence; having a grumpy and unpleasant personality, and being socially and politically conservative (Revere Report on Ageism, 2012; GDIGM, 2020). According to one of the male participants, the image of older people as frail, passive and vulnerable is passed on to society, where it is absorbed and internalized by the general population, so that even when we become seniors ourselves, we perceive old age that way too. This same participant also said: \u201cBy presenting the image of aging in this way it also encourages the belief that older people have less value, and less use to society than they did when they were younger,\u201d which is another form of ageism<\/em><\/a>. Popular culture and media, he suggested, have a bias towards youth who are active and seen as productive because they are employed, making them valuable within our neoliberal society as both a worker and a prime consumer.<\/p>\n His perspective is also reflected in the literature on ‘individualism’ and ‘neoliberalism.’<\/em><\/a> There is another significant influence that affects our perceptions about aging and fuels ageism \u2013 (Hooyman & Gonyea,1995; Gullette, 2011). <\/em>The ideology of individualism <\/em>that is rooted in the 19th century emphasizes self-reliance, independence, and productivity, while negatively characterizing any form of weakness or dependence (Harvey, 2005; Hooyman & Gonyea, 1995). Building on the ideology of individualism, neoliberalism<\/em> contributes to the belief that to have value as an older person in our society, you must continue to be healthy and productive and\/or have enough wealth to maintain complete independence. And applying individual \u2018choice\u2019 and \u2018personal responsibility\u2019 (two of the primary tenets of neoliberal ideology) are the methods to use to achieve this state in old age. But if you should instead become a frail and dependent older person any value you might have is removed, thereby translating into the ultimate form of ageism<\/em>.<\/p>\n This question of who has value in our society has been highlighted and pushed into the public\u2019s eye during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In the early stages of the pandemic, outbreaks in long-term care facilities (LTC) across the country resulted in large numbers of deaths of vulnerable and frail older adults. An article in the BC Medical Journal <\/em>in August 2020, stated that: \u201cDeaths from COVID-19 have disproportionately affected seniors living in LTC. Only 1% of Canadians reside in LTC, but these deaths represent 80% of all COVID deaths in Canada\u201d (Chung, 2020).\u00a0A question that we might ask is why this unacceptable situation was allowed to happen to our most vulnerable population in the first place. I would suggest that the answer to this leads back to ageism<\/em>. Who (and who does not) have value in our society?\u00a0 The frail and dependent elderly it would seem, clearly do not. We also need to ask ourselves: How can this situation be changed?<\/p>\n Looking at frail older age from another perspective, one participant, along with five other participants emphasized that the seniors she knows are active and engaged people and should be shown in this way in popular culture and not as frail and weak. From her point of view, there are two categories of older age: younger old age<\/em>, represented by adults in their 60s who are still active and independent; and older old age<\/em>, which is not defined by years but by level of independence and ability to continue to participate in active living. Media and popular culture, she said, present all old age as older old age, which has not been her experience. Although this participant\u2019s comments reflect critical thinking and good observation skills, like the rest of the population in our culture she has been inundated with constant negative images of aging over her lifetime and has most likely internalized some of images of the \u201cideology of decline\u201d<\/a> (Gullette, 2004). As a result, she may also be trying to distance herself from the frailties of old age, and instead focus on the positives of older age.<\/p>\n