Aging & Social Change: Eleventh Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

The first results of an empirical research study carried out in Italy titled Redesign (FRAIL ANZIANI, INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY AND COMMUNITIES FRIENDLY TO AGEING) is presented. The research adopts intergenerational dyadic interviews as a methodological tool, by involving the elderly (identified on the basis of indicators of fragility) and their younger reference person (recognized and indicated by the elderly themselves) as a target audience. The unit of analysis considered is therefore the intergenerational pair (dyad): elderly and caregiver (or reference person). The analysis of the dyadic interviews, conducted with the NVivo Software, provides the image of ageing and old age emerging from intergenerational dialogue. From results, it is therefore possible to identify some specific types of representation of seniority in relation to the dyad, the informal and formal network environment, and the stressful events occurred to the interviewees. The representation of old age seems, in fact, closely connected with the quality and intensity of relationships, the environment of associative and local life that the interviewees relate to, and stressful events that have recently happened to them.