Ageism in Real Life

Over the past 8 weeks, I have interviewed three women aged 65 and over. The names of the interviewees will not be released therefore; I will use the names Mrs. A, B, and C. During the interviews, I defined the term 'ageism' for them and asked them if they had ever experienced ageism before. 

Mrs. A asked me, 'Well, what do you mean? That some people think of me different just because I am older?' I told her that was correct. She was very quick to come back and say, 'No, I have never felt like anyone has treated me differently now that I am older.'

Mrs. B told me, 'No, I do not think so, or not in an instance that I can remember. And even if they did, I would probably just ignore them.'

Ageism came up in the conversation I had with Mrs. C before I even asked her about it. Recently, she has had some major medical problems and has dealt with doctors on many occasions. When I was asking her about what the doctor told her about her latest problem, she said she did not know and that, 'The doctors just try to fix me and get me back out the door. They do not take time for an old woman like me.' It was pretty evident to me at this point that Mrs. C had undoubtedly experienced ageism. At this time, I told Mrs. C what ageism was and asked her if she felt as if the doctor was being ageist toward her. She said that she felt that the doctor was acting in this way toward her because she is older. When she realized that the doctor had taken advantage of her older age, it seemed as if it empowered her. Now that she knew what was going on, she could go back to that doctor and 'demand' some answers. 

McGuire, Klein, and Chen, conducted a study named ‘Ageism revisited: A study measuring ageism in East Tennessee, USA’. There were 247 participants. Eighty-four percent (208) of the participants reported experiencing ageism at least once and 71% (176) of the participants experienced ageism two or more times. In this cross-sectional study, statistical significance was found in those that lived in urban/suburban areas vs. those in rural areas. The elderly that lived in urban/suburban areas were more likely to experience ageism on more than one occasion while those who like in rural areas were likely to have only experienced ageism once. The most common type of ageism felt by the participant’s in this study was by a joke that made fun of old people, followed by receiving birthday cards that make fun of older people. These two experiences were closely followed by ‘A doctor or nurse assumed my ailments were caused by my age’ (McGuire, Klein, and Chen, 2008). The researchers concluded, ‘Ageist attitudes are highly contagious and tend to propagate, becoming self-fulfilling prophecies. We have the potential to create generations who value not only their own aging, but the older people around them’ (McGuire, Klein, and Chen, 2008).

 

It is interesting to read studies done on ageism when most of the population has never heard the word ‘ageism’ and even more probably do not realize what they are saying/doing is ageist. I hope the media begins making these types of studies headliners to make people aware that there is an issue that needs to be worked on. Mrs. C was completely correct in that the doctor was most likely showing signs of ageism. How can we put a stop to this doctor’s view on older people? I believe it begins by confronting the problem. If the elderly are unable to stand up for themselves, who will?

Reference

McGuire, S. L., Klein, D. A. and Chen, S.-L. (2008), Ageism revisited: A study measuring ageism in East Tennessee, USA. Nursing & Health Sciences, 10: 11–16. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2007.00336.x