The Memory Lounge Project: Combatting Loneliness in Rural Queensland Through Intergenerational Connections and the Sharing of Memories

Conference: The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen2022)
Title: The Memory Lounge Project: Combatting Loneliness in Rural Queensland Through Intergenerational Connections and the Sharing of Memories
Stream: Loneliness
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Catherine Dhavernas, Griffith University, Australia

Abstract:

This presentation will provide an overview of The Memory Lounge Project, an interdisciplinary initiative involving a team of researchers at Griffith University (Australia) working in partnership with the Queensland State Archives and the rural community of Kilkivan in Queensland Australia. As a fieldwork component of a medical humanities course on the "Challenges of Aging", the Memory Lounge Project provides second year medical students with an opportunity to apply knowledge acquired in class about aging, directly observe the issues studied in class and actively address the specific challenges of loneliness and isolation experienced by many older persons living in rural communities that have been intensified by COVID over the past two years. The project simultaneously provides older persons living in rural settings an opportunity to form new and meaningful connections with one another by allowing them to share anecdotes and common memories that are prompted by archival images while also actively facilitating intergenerational connections through discussion and the sharing of life experiences across the different age groups involved.

In our discussion of the project, we will focus on how the Memory Lounge Project came about, how it works and the impact it has had so far by addressing feedback collected from participating students and older adults who have been involved in Memory Lounge sessions over the past two years.



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