Programme/activity name Active Across Ages

Lead organisation

Youth Sport Trust International

Country United Kingdom

Period Dec 2018 – Jan 2020

Objective

The key aims of Active Across Ages were to:

• Facilitate social mixing to promote social wellbeing between young and older people.

• Enhance physical and mental wellbeing between young and older people

• Boost social action and social capital.

• Establish credible and impactful models of intergenerational activity for future use both in the UK and internationally.

Programme, activities, events

Active Across Ages aims to develop and deliver an action-based research project focused on intergenerational activity inspired and facilitated through the power of play and sport. Developed by Youth Sport Trust, UK partner of Youth Sport Trust International, Active Across Ages was delivered across five geographical locations across the country. Each location had a lead school and a partner school and schools identified at least one older person’s setting to partner with for the project.

Young people from the schools (primary, secondary and special) were trained as Activity Buddies and they then worked with older people to deliver activities, with a focus on physical activity, that both older people and young people can enjoy together.

Stakeholders and roles

Schools – primary, secondary and special – to identify the young people teachers felt could benefit most from the project. They were trained as activity buddies to connect with older people and develop together the physical activities they would engage in together. A range of older people settings were recruited to take part in the project – day center, doctor’s surgery, residential home and community groups so that older people could engage with the young activity buddies and take part in the project. Most schools delivered weekly sessions with the older people.

Barriers

Outcomes

It takes time to build the partnerships between schools and older people settings and plan the activities so project activities took longer than expected to start.

The evaluation report of the project shows the good results achieved for both younger and older people:

• 94% of young people felt that their communication skills improved after being involved in the program;

• 92% of young people felt that their teamwork skills improved after being involved in the program;

• 87% of young people felt that their leadership skills improved after being involved in the program;

• 95% of young people felt that they had a better view of older people after being involved in the program;

• 84% of older people felt that their feelings of companionship improved after being involved in the program

• 90% of older people felt that their perceptions of young people had improved after being involved in the program

• 86% of older participants felt that their happiness levels had increased.

Principles for behaviour change

Tips & tricks

Mutually beneficial activities – recognizing what everyone brings. Activities which require cooperation between age groups not competition. Sharing goals between age groups encourages cooperation. Design activities which encourage sharing stories. Encourage groups to learn about each other as individuals.

1. Ensure there is a lead member of staff in the school and the older person setting.

2. Allow sufficient time to plan the project in advance.

3. Carefully consider the location of the activities.

4. Carefully consider who to recruit as activity buddies.

5. Allow flexibility to ensure the project is delivered within the local context and complements local priorities.

6. Support the activity buddies and manage expectations.

7. Tailor the activities to suit participants’ interests and abilities.

8. Ensure that project momentum is maintained.

9. Build on early benefits that emerge.

10. Showcase project activities to demonstrate impact.

Other information

Teachers received briefing and training. Activity buddies received training. Monitoring and evaluation framework was developed – baseline data collection, interim data collection, post intervention data collection.

Source https://www.youthsporttrust.org/programmes/active-across-ages