Social interaction and the availability of meaningful activities promote the
physical and psychological well-being of children and older adults. The development of
social interaction is closely related to physical and social environments that complement
the therapeutic needs of cognitively impaired elders and the developmental needs of
young children. This study examined the effects of the degree of spatial enclosure on
social interaction between these two groups during physical exercise in an assisted living
facility co-located with a childcare center. The multi-methodological approach allowed
for triangulation and employed the following techniques: naturalistic observation, a
Web-based and mail out survey, an experiment, semi-structured interviews, sequential
analysis, nonparametric analysis, and content analysis.
The findings of this study demonstrated that a semi-enclosed spatial plan most
influenced the prosocial behavior of older adults and young children. These elder-child
prosocial behaviors were likely facilitated by a perception of adequate personal space,
openness, and possible spaces for prospect and refuge within the semi-enclosed spatial
plan. Elder-child social interaction was positively influenced by several programmatic
factors which gave participants some sense of control. These findings led to design
recommendations for creating appropriate developmental and therapeutic environments
for children and older adults in intergenerational care settings. Recommendations were
that a satisfactory balance be maintained between openness and enclosure as these
stimulate elder-child social interaction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1730 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Seo, Min-Young |
| Contributors | Shepley, Mardelle M. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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