A pilot study on the creation of a new regional intergenerational network where high school students and elderly healthy volunteers share their knowledge of a good dietary life

Abstract

We intend to create an extrafamilial intergenerational network in a region of Nagano prefecture. Therefore, we designed and conducted a three-part dietary workshop series for health promotion involving older and younger generations residing in this region. We verified that our intergenerational activities produced changes in participants’ images of milk and dairy products, which was the aim of the workshop series. A workshop series was held in a city, Nagano prefecture. Images of milk and dairy products among 10 regional elderly dietary life improvement promoters (females, age range: 62-73 years) and 23 female students (age range: 17-18 years) who participated in the workshop series were compared to images among 16 elderly dietary life improvement promoters (females, age range: 58-78 years) and 22 females students (age range: 17-18 years) who did not participate in the workshop series. We analyzed changes in images of milk and dairy products before and after participating in our workshop series using convergent mixed methods design. Significant differences were observed in the images of nutritional properties of dishes prepared using milk products after participating in our workshop series among students. Furthermore, free descriptions provided by the students who participated in the workshop series indicated that the workshops improved their understanding of older generations in the region.