Intergenerational integration, social capital and health: a theoretical framework and results from a qualitative study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to report results from a qualitative evaluation of a school based intergenerational intervention and also to derive a theoretical framework to explain the changes of attitudes in an intervention of this kind. This is a qualitative evaluation of an intervention where 32 elders from the neighbouring area of a secondary school of Ceilândia, Distrito Federal (DF) of Brazil shared their memories with the 111 students during four months. After the intervention, adolescents and elders took part in 14 focus group discussions where they evaluated the effect of the activities in some aspect of their lives. The intervention had a positive impact in the participants' perceptions of family relationships, health status and solidarity. However, it did not improve feelings of trust in others. The results also suggested other possible dimensions of social capital for these age groups such as mutual respected and perception of being valued by others. Although the study had some limitations, it showed the possible mechanisms of psychosocial changes involved in interventions of this kind which have not been investigated.