OPTIMIZING ONLINE DELIVERY OF INTERGENERATIONAL STUDENT EXPERIENCES: LEVERAGING OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract Conceptualizing intergenerational opportunities for students in fully online courses can initially appear daunting or impractical, given the absence of a common physical classroom and community environment. However, it could be argued that online learning serves as a facilitator, rather than a barrier to intergenerational programming. This session will focus on the connections between intergenerational programming and the principles of quality online teaching – emphasizing the ability of online modalities to increase connections with a global community, remove the limitations of geographic-based access to experiences, and elevate the level of student engagement typically expected within online courses. Leveraging opportunities to overcome real and perceived challenges to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of intergenerational student experiences in online courses will be discussed, as well as opportunities for future growth in the current era.

56.99% women; 15.76% Black).Participants reported chronic sleep problems experienced in the past year, alongside frequency of experiencing sleep disruptions (trouble with onset, maintenance, feeling unrested).Participants also reported economic impacts (financial, housing, and job-related) experienced in the aftermath of the recession; with 75.56% reporting at least one adverse recession event.Regression indicated that recession events were significantly associated with higher odds of chronic sleep problems and high frequency sleep disruptions in wave 3, even when controlling for sleep problems in wave 2. When examining race and age as moderators, Black participants who experienced adverse events were more vulnerable to chronic sleep problems than white participants, whereas age showed no significant interactions.Results indicate that adverse economic events can impact sleep quality for midlife and aging adults, and that policy mitigating economic effects on sleep may especially benefit Black adults.Subsequent analyses will examine the effect of recession events on daily sleep patterns.

THE EFFECTS OF HOUSING AND LIVING STANDARDS ON LONELINESS AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION AMONG OLDER PEOPLE
Charles Waldegrave 1 , Chris Cunningham 2 , Catherine Love 3 , and Giang Nguyen 3 , 1. Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit,Lower Hutt,Wellington,New Zealand,2. Research Centre for Maori Health and Development,Wellington,Wellington,New Zealand,3. Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit,Wellington,Wellington,New Zealand Introduction: Housing security is a likely indicator of loneliness (Gierveld et. al. 2015, Gonyea et. al. 2018) but there are few studies that focus specifically on the relationship between the two.This paper presents findings from a New Zealand Ageing Well National Science Challenge research programme that presents findings on the impacts of housing and living standards on loneliness and social exclusion.Method: This presentation will provide results from a study of 200+ Māori (indigenous New Zealanders) aged 50 years and over.Key questions around loneliness and social isolation were co-created with the participants and responses compared with standard international scales to help identify both universal aspects of loneliness and culturally specific aspects.Questions relating to housing security, affordability, living standards and neighbourhood safety were also asked.Regression analysis was used to test the statistical significance of the various relationships between differing aspects of housing and loneliness.
Results: The results demonstrate statistically significant relationships between housing quality, affordability, living standards and neighbourhood suitability with both the universal and culturally specific scales of loneliness.Overall greater housing security and quality was shown to be negatively associated with loneliness, which suggests it contributes to the reduction of loneliness.
Conclusion: Addressing the quality of social connections has often been seen as the key way to address loneliness.The results of this study suggest housing security and living standards play an important role in people's perception of loneliness and their experience of it, as well.

IMPLEMENTATION RESEARCH: INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAMS ACROSS UNIVERSITY SETTINGS
Chair: Jill Juris Co-Chair: Skye Leedahl Discussant: Natalie Douglas Implementing intergenerational programs within university settings has been associated with benefits for all generations involved, which often includes young children, university students, and older adults.However, from conceptualization to pilot testing to evaluation, challenges and opportunities present themselves.This symposium will highlight implementation realities for intergenerational programs within higher education settings.This symposium will specifically address dimensions of: geography (rural versus urban), modality (such as in-person, virtual, or a mix), community/university partnerships, and scholarship for faculty balancing instruction and research demands.Addressing stages of implementation, the papers reflect a continuum from pre-planning to pilot to more advanced stages of implementation.First, Lisa Borrero will highlight challenges and opportunities of conceptualizing fully online intergenerational programming, including the preimplementation planning, execution, and evaluation stages.The second paper from Ladan Ghazi Saidi will describe pre-implementation tasks completed to establish interest in intergenerational programming in a rural setting, as well as challenges stemming from the pandemic.Third, Jill Juris and colleagues will highlight an online intergenerational technology program offered from a rural Western North Carolina university that began implementation during the pandemic.Fourth, Rachel Scrivano and colleagues will describe a community-based participatory research method that bridged the gap between expectations and reality of implementing a 5-year intergenerational program focused on healthy food access.The fifth paper from Skye Leedahl and colleagues will discuss the implementation experiences of an intergenerational, reverse mentoring, technology program that has evolved for seven years at a Rhode Island public university and utilizes community partners from across the state.

OPTIMIZING ONLINE DELIVERY OF INTERGENERATIONAL STUDENT EXPERIENCES: LEVERAGING OPPORTUNITIES Lisa Borrero, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Conceptualizing intergenerational opportunities for students in fully online courses can initially appear daunting or impractical, given the absence of a common physical classroom and community environment.However, it could be argued that online learning serves as a facilitator, rather than a barrier to intergenerational programming.This session will focus on the connections between intergenerational programming and the principles of quality online teachingemphasizing the ability of online modalities to increase connections with a global community, remove the limitations of geographic-based access to experiences, and elevate the level of student engagement typically expected within online courses.Leveraging opportunities to overcome real and perceived challenges to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of intergenerational student experiences in online courses will be discussed, as well as opportunities for future growth in the current era.

INTEGRATING RESEARCH, TEACHING, AND SERVICE: AN INTERGENERATIONAL BONDING PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA Ladan Ghazi Saidi, Universoty of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska, United States
To establish an Intergenerational Bonding (IGB) program that pairs undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska at Kearney with older adults of this rural community, we first tested acceptability and feasibility of such a program.We surveyed both groups to identify their interest level in IGB and identify their common interests in activities.Older adults residing in independent dwellings, assisted living homes, and nursing homes and members of community groups were invited to participate in the survey.However, the response rate was low.Given the restrictions of the pandemic, accessing community older adults was challenging.Internet access was low, which made virtual and digital participation modalities impossible; recruitment from assisted living facilities was not successful; and, establishing collaboration with nursing homes was not easy despite initial interest.Building trust and working with community activity group facilitators was ultimately beneficial in recruiting older adults.Collaboration with community-based organizations facilitated the study.Social isolation and loneliness contributed to poor health outcomes among rural older adults prior to COVID-19.Physical distancing protocols during COVID-19 exacerbated social disconnect of rural older adults and paused in-person intergenerational programs.Pilot data from a Cyber-Seniors program that was adapted for virtual delivery and participation during the pandemic (2020-2021) indicates positive health outcomes for older adults (improved social isolation and loneliness).This presentation will address a gap between outcomes and the implementation process of the intergenerational technology program.Multi-method data on student experiences as technology mentors working at a distance suggest a need for an evaluation of program implementation.The type 1 effectivenessimplementation hybrid design includes quantitative measures of student outcomes (ageism, social isolation, and loneliness) and qualitative analysis of students' program implementation experiences.Students identified challenges accessing and working with the online platforms, scheduling meetings with older adults, and providing support with online systems by phone.Food for a Long Life (FFLL) was a five-year USDA Children, Youth and Families at Risk intergenerational community research project that sought to increase healthy food consumption, knowledge, and access among preschoolers and older adults living in food insecure communities of Ohio and Virginia.Using the community-based participatory action research approach, community stakeholders jointly participated in all stages of the project to co-create context-specific programming to address needs within their communities with the goal of promoting program sustainability beyond the grant funding period.This presentation will provide a narrative review to explore the implementation process of FFLL by comparing initial project expectations to reality using the community-based participatory research conceptual model (Wallerstein et al., 2008;Wallerstein et al., 2018).By exploring project barriers such as COVID-19, facilitators such as flexible partner relationships, and strategies including promoting early buy-in, we provide an in-depth discussion of project successes and lessons learned.

SEVEN YEARS OF IMPLEMENTING AN INTERGENERATIONAL PROGRAM WITH UNIVERSITY/COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Skye Leedahl, Erica Estus, Kristin Fratoni Souza, and Alexandria Capolino, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, United States The University of Rhode Island Engaging Generations Cyber-Seniors Program was first implemented in the fall semester of 2015.URI students from 15+ majors have supported the digital competency of older adults in Rhode Island each semester and summer session since its inception.Gradually over time, we modified and expanded this in-person program to meet student, older adult, community partner, and faculty needs.The pandemic led to our program expanding exponentially due to new grant funding opportunities, new partnerships, and student interest.This presentation will address strengths and challenges of implementing this program state-wide in a small, mostly urban state with community partners, mostly involving senior centers.We will describe moving from in-person to phone/virtual and now to a hybrid model.Last, we will explain the program's efforts to conduct formative and summative evaluation research to assess program output and examine outcomes for students and older adults in the program.

INDIGENOUS UNDERSTANDINGS AND APPROACHES TO SUCCESSFUL AGING
Chair: Jordan Lewis Co-Chair: Steffi Kim Indigenous peoples worldwide face unique challenges growing old.Many of these challenges are founded in historical colonization practices, present oppressive systems, Rachel Scrivano 1 , Jill Juris 2 , and Shannon Jarrott 1 , 1.The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States, 2. Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, United States