Bridging the Age-Related Communication Gap: An Encounter Between Senior Citizens and Communication Students Towards Social Integration

Abstract

This paper is built upon an attempt to answer the question: “What can be done to facilitate social integration between the elderly of Bagac, Bataan and the communication students of St. Paul University Manila?” The research was designed as a qualitative inquiry that involved an outreach activity by 24 dominantly female students of Development Communication to the senior citizens of Bagac, Bataan (Philippines) and a reflection period involving the students. The students were tasked to pay special attention to the digital engagements and/or disengagements of the elderly to allow them to learn more about the difficulties and potential of using social media in development-related projects involving senior citizens. The actual two-hour encounter involved socialization between the elderly and the students. The students, prior to the encounter, were tasked to generate the funds, use them to acquire and prepare the gifts, develop the program during the actual encounter based on research-based guidelines, and photo document the entire activity. They were given guide questions for reflections a week after. The reflections were thematically analyzed and revealed that in order to facilitate greater social integration between the elderly and the communication students. The university should address the health and digital aversion issues that intensify the sense of isolation of the elderly experience daily. This can be done by enhancing the communication skills of the communication students in 16 areas. In 2015, a group of senior college students of St. Paul University Manila completed research that sought to empower the senior citizens of a community in Manila through expressive arts. It was chosen as the best thesis of the year and became the inspiration for an advocacy to which the Mass Communication Program of the university has committed since then. It generated a momentum that led to the program chair’s encounter with an elderly cancer patient of the Philippine General Hospital who later became the beneficiary of a fund- raising campaign by communication students. During the first semester of the 2016-2017 academic year, the Development Communication students under the mentorship of the first author took on an exploratory project that involved the elderly people of Bagac, Bataan, the author’s hometown. This research was the result of a realization that, while senior citizens are people who need the support of the youth, they are also the best teachers for them, because of their rich experiences and the wisdom they gained. It was also brought about by the fact that the younger generation are more informed about and exposed to new communication technologies than the older generation. The need to look at the elderly and the youth as mutually empowering agents stimulated the questions on which this paper is based.

Keywords

• communication students
• digital aversion
• elderly
• health concerns.