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書寫人生：大學生與機構高齡住民的代間服務學習對世代融合的效益分析
Writing about Lives: Analyzing the Benefits of Intergenerational Service-Learning between University Students and Institutionalized Older Adults for Intergenerational Harmony
摘要
高齡與少子化社會趨勢下，大多數家庭皆為小家庭，年輕世代因就學、就業必須離鄉背井，家中長者為獨居長者或老老照顧的情況相當普遍，因此不同世代間相互學習與互動機會相對減少。大學作為教育機制之一，如何透過課程設計將長者與年輕世代透過代間學習加以結合，讓年輕世代對長者有更多的理解與同理，以達到尊重長者與社會融入為高齡社會的重要任務與使命。本研究以一所國立大學通識中心開設的「高齡化議題與服務」課程為場域，由學生為長者撰寫生命故事書為目標，透過代間教育課程中兩個世代群體之間的互動，進行課程前、後大學生對長者認知的差異比較及學生的心得紀錄分析，探析互動過程中大學生對長者看法的變化歷程，同時評估代間教育的效益，並提出未來課程規劃及政策建議。研究結果顯示，大學生對於長者負面的認知（例如悲觀消沉、自怨自艾等）呈現較大幅度的正面改善。透過與長者的代間學習有助於不同世代間的互動、理解與分享，同時也代表未來的大學教育需要更多類似多元的課程規劃與相關活動，使目前缺乏代間互動的現代年輕人可以有更多機會藉由此過程學習跨代智慧，更重要的是讓長者由此過程中，得到理解、同理與尊重。
並列摘要
An aging society and low birth rate have contributed to the nuclear family becoming the predominant family type in this current age. We often see a scenario where younger generations are forced to leave their hometown for education or work, leaving their older parents living alone or taking care of each other with their spouse at home. This situation has reduced the opportunities for intergenerational learning and interaction. Universities, as an education system, should thus carry out the mission and duty to design courses that facilitate intergenerational learning between older and younger generations, which help younger people understand, empathize with, and respect older adults and thereby improve older adults' integration into society. Studies on university students' understanding of aging and late adulthood have shown that students with more knowledge of aging have a more positive attitude toward older adults and that participating intergenerational or multigenerational activities improves the physical and psychological health of older adults. In other words, enhancing public perception and awareness of older adults are keys to building age-friendly environments, and intergenerational learning in school increases younger people's understanding of older adults. The present study focused on the "Aging Issue and Service" course offered by the general education center of a national university in Taiwan and investigated the interaction between two generations in this intergenerational education course. The primary goal of the course was for students to write about the life stories of older adults. This study compared the university students' understanding of older adults before and after the course, analyzed their reflections on the course, explored how students' views of older adults changed throughout the interaction, evaluated the benefits of intergenerational education, and proposed suggestions on future course planning and policy development. The study results showed that before the course, university students' experiences with older adults were limited to those experiences with their older family members and tended to have a negative understanding of older adults. After the course, the students improved their understanding of the psychological status of older adults and reduced their incorrect understanding or negative views related to the social participation of older adults. However, the students' views about older adults' physical appearance changed to a limited extent, and no significant difference was noted between their understanding of the work and financial aspects of older adults before and after the course. A subsequent qualitative analysis revealed that during the students' interaction with older adults and their writing of their life stories, the university students changed from being shy, distant, and unable to express themselves with older adults to being able to interact naturally with them. The students grew in their empathy with older adults, identified the generational and cultural differences between their lifestyle and the lifestyle of older adults, and in turn extended their understanding of how to care for themselves, older family members, and other older adults in general. Overall, the intergenerational learning course for university students and older adults was conducive to the interaction, understanding, and sharing between generations. Accordingly, more such courses with diverse course plans and activities are needed in future university education courses for the purpose of providing opportunities for young people today, who lack interaction with older adults, to learn wisdom from the older generation and, more importantly, to understand, empathize with, and respect the older adults. On the basis of the study results, the study proposed the following four suggestions for future course design in intergenerational education. First, analysis results from pretest and posttest data collected from students before and after the course revealed that university students changed their views on the psychological, physical, and social participation aspects of older adults unrelated to the work and financial aspects of older adults. These result are consistent with the course design's primary goal to enhance university students' empathy with older adults. These results also indicate that clarifying the goals of intergenerational education and courses and connecting these goals closely with the course design before the courses help achieve the course objectives. Second, the students' experience in empathizing with older adults during the course prompted them to think differently. The impact of such experience is typically greater than that of teachers' lectures in class, and the students' reflections on this experience can affect how they feel about and perceive their interactions with older adults in the future. Therefore, future intergenerational education or discussions of aging-related topics may emphasize the use of physical and sensory experiential activities that allow students to put themselves in older adults' shoes and facilitate intergenerational sharing of experiences, thus creating "generational wisdom." Third, regarding the students' past experience, despite a general lack of experience with older adults, some students had special experiences with older adults because of their family conditions. However, this study did not investigate in depth the students' past experiences with older adults before the course. If future researchers are to conduct a questionnaire survey on students' understanding of older adults before a course, they should delve deeper into students' past experience in the survey so that they can pay more attention to and gain greater understanding of students with said special experiences during the course. Fourth, the present study focused on how students engaged in the intergenerational learning. However, given the reciprocal nature of and mutual growth facilitated by intergenerational learning, understanding older adults' views on the planning and benefits of intergenerational education activities is equally crucial for designing intergenerational service-learning courses. Accordingly, future research may incorporate older adults' views and suggestions on how these courses can be incorporated into the course plan to truly fulfil the reciprocal value of these courses and to promote intergenerational exchange and prosperity.
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