Policy measures to reduce stereotypical representations of older people in long-term care
Xu, Wenqian LU
and Allen, Laura
(2021)
In EuroAgeism policy briefs
- Abstract
- Older people are stereotypically portrayed in the media at two extremes of a spectrum, either the healthy and happy retiree, or the fragile and sick older person in need of care. Older people living in residential long-term care are particularly portrayed in a homogenous way. Individuals exposed to stereotypical portrayals could develop a distorted view of the realities of older people and later life. The negative portrayals could harmfully influence older people’s self-esteem as well as younger people’s perceptions of ageing processes. This policy brief addresses the issue of ageism in media portrayals of older people and later life relating to residential long-term care. This brief calls for more authentic, balanced, diverse and... (More)
- Older people are stereotypically portrayed in the media at two extremes of a spectrum, either the healthy and happy retiree, or the fragile and sick older person in need of care. Older people living in residential long-term care are particularly portrayed in a homogenous way. Individuals exposed to stereotypical portrayals could develop a distorted view of the realities of older people and later life. The negative portrayals could harmfully influence older people’s self-esteem as well as younger people’s perceptions of ageing processes. This policy brief addresses the issue of ageism in media portrayals of older people and later life relating to residential long-term care. This brief calls for more authentic, balanced, diverse and thoughtful portrayals of older people in the media, as well as seeking accountability of content producers as a critical way of reducing the portrayals of older people that may lead to ageism.
Policy measures are suggested for mitigating ageism in the process of generating media content (digital and print) about older people and later life relating to long-term care. Specifically, we recommend to:
1. include a heterogeneous long-term care ageing experience in media portrayals;
2. reduce social stigmas surrounding residential long-term care;
3. encourage education in ageism and construct new images of long-term care;
4. provide training for media professionals working around residential long-term care;
5. support providers of care to tackle the privacy issue of residents.
These policy measures can be taken and tailored by media professionals and healthcare and long-term care professionals considering the given media, institutional and social contexts. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f203f970-5282-4806-84fc-c9d128b16b29
- author
- Xu, Wenqian
LU
and Allen, Laura
- publishing date
- 2021-10
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- EuroAgeism policy briefs
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- EuroAgeism
- DOI
- 10.13140/RG.2.2.12425.57442
- project
- Ageism in the Media
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- f203f970-5282-4806-84fc-c9d128b16b29
- date added to LUP
- 2023-03-11 05:32:20
- date last changed
- 2023-03-14 02:59:59
@techreport{f203f970-5282-4806-84fc-c9d128b16b29,
abstract = {{Older people are stereotypically portrayed in the media at two extremes of a spectrum, either the healthy and happy retiree, or the fragile and sick older person in need of care. Older people living in residential long-term care are particularly portrayed in a homogenous way. Individuals exposed to stereotypical portrayals could develop a distorted view of the realities of older people and later life. The negative portrayals could harmfully influence older people’s self-esteem as well as younger people’s perceptions of ageing processes. This policy brief addresses the issue of ageism in media portrayals of older people and later life relating to residential long-term care. This brief calls for more authentic, balanced, diverse and thoughtful portrayals of older people in the media, as well as seeking accountability of content producers as a critical way of reducing the portrayals of older people that may lead to ageism. <br/>Policy measures are suggested for mitigating ageism in the process of generating media content (digital and print) about older people and later life relating to long-term care. Specifically, we recommend to:<br/>1. include a heterogeneous long-term care ageing experience in media portrayals;<br/>2. reduce social stigmas surrounding residential long-term care; <br/>3. encourage education in ageism and construct new images of long-term care; <br/>4. provide training for media professionals working around residential long-term care; <br/>5. support providers of care to tackle the privacy issue of residents.<br/>These policy measures can be taken and tailored by media professionals and healthcare and long-term care professionals considering the given media, institutional and social contexts.}},
author = {{Xu, Wenqian and Allen, Laura}},
institution = {{EuroAgeism}},
language = {{eng}},
series = {{EuroAgeism policy briefs}},
title = {{Policy measures to reduce stereotypical representations of older people in long-term care}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.12425.57442}},
doi = {{10.13140/RG.2.2.12425.57442}},
year = {{2021}},
}