Objectives: The project evaluated individuals’ perception of old age within residential long-term care by examining the discursive and social construction of long-term care at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The project was also crucially situated in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic because it has changed the way residential care is portrayed in the public and has impacted society’s perceptions of living in residential long-term care in later life. Research objectives are investigated in a series of 3 studies. Study 1 is a critical discourse analysis of news articles published in 3 leading American newspapers in the initial months of the COVID-19 outbreak. Study 2 examines online newspaper commenters’ perceptions of old age and LTC in the context of a limited COVID-19 vaccine. This study was a frame analysis of online comment threads on a news article about vaccine distribution recommendations. The findings of Study 1 informed the design of Study 3 which investigated the process of news reporting on residential Long-Term Care (LTC) and identified the barriers that prevented residents’ voices from being heard and included.
Results: By examining the media representations of older people in the long-term care setting, this project provides a unique perspective on the ageism towards older adults receiving care that is apparent through the social and discursive exclusion of older residents. Three reports (publications) on ageism in the portrayal and public perception of long-term care and a policy brief on media representations of long-term care are the main products. Study 1 found that residents’ voices are excluded from news reports during COVID-19. This finding is ageist and leads to stereotypical and negative portrayals of residents in long-term care. The findings of study 2 reflected the dangerous impact that these stereotypical representations have through the perceptions of vulnerability in old age and LTC from commenters on a news article about the distribution order of the vaccine. The findings of Study 3 shed light on why residents are excluded from news stories: reporters do not consider residents to be “experts” in LTC; facility administrators fear for their public image; and residents feel unheard and forgotten, demonstrating the ageism embedded in the institutions of both LTC and news media.
Secondment(s)(Months), co-Supervisors: RGU (3m), Dr. Kydd. AGE Platform Europe (3m), Dr. Georgantzi. These secondments were geared to improve the ESR’s understanding of long-term care alternatives and to better conceptualize the relationship between the characteristics of the setting, social network and ageism within a cross-national perspective. The ESR also learned how to turn research into policy and how to ensure that research is relevant for policy makers. One additional goal was to gain and improve transferrable skills, which was also achieved through coordination of the Scotland training event.
