ABSTRACT
In the autumn of 2017, UK’s Channel 4 broadcast a two-part documentary titled Old Peoples Home for 4 Year Olds. This portrayed an intergenerational social experiment that used normalised activity within a nursery school setting. Its aim was to assess what impact a six-week period of daily contact between a group of 4-year-olds and a group of residents in a Bristol retirement village would have on the health and wellbeing of the older adults. Public and professional interest in the TV documentary was considerable. This chapter will report on the experiment’s effects using (a) the perspectives of the different generations taking part and (b) the results from the measurement tools used to assess changes in mood and physiological functioning among the older participants. These will be compared to outcomes identified in recent intergenerational research and evaluation literature. It will go on to describe how taking part in the programme influenced intergenerational practice at the St Monica Trust, where the experiment was hosted, and beyond.
