The Well-Connected Older Adult:Exploring the Youth’s“Older Adult Self”(OAS)—Visualizations Post-Encounter With an Older Adult Community in Bagac,Bataan

摘要

This paper sought to surface visualizations of“older adult selves”(OAS)of junior college students studying development communication after an interaction with older adults in Bagac,Bataan in the Philippines.It was done to figure out the ways by which such visualizations could be achieved through institutional efforts within an academic setting.Twenty-three students,mostly females who volunteered to participate in a reflection paper writing activity a week after the youth-older adult interaction,wrote their visions or projections of their life as older adults informed by their social exchanges with older adults in a rural community in the Philippines(Bagac,Bataan).The results indicated that an image of the well-connected older adult was shared across all narratives and it is characterized by youthfulness,openness and flexibility,and sense of accomplishment.Necessary conditions were drawn out from the data to help facilitate the fulfillment of such visions through the possible initiatives of St.Paul University Manila.