Assessing the Effectiveness of a Virtual Intergenerational Service-Learning Project on Students’ Ageism Attitude Toward Older Adults and on Older Adults’ Social Competence During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pre-post Study

This study aimed to assess the impact of a virtual intergenerational service-learning project on undergraduate students' ageism attitude toward older adults and on older adults' social competence. Students were randomly assigned to two groups: the service-learning group and the non-service-learning group (spring 2021 semester). Service-learning students (<i>n</i> = 20) were paired with older adults for a weekly virtual conversation of at least 30 min per week for 8 weeks. Pretest and posttest surveys were used to assess the change in students' ageist attitudes toward older adults. Paired samples <i>t</i>-test was used to assess the change in older adults' social competence levels. Our findings suggest that compared with the students in the non-service-learning group, students in the service-learning group experienced a greater decrease in ageism score after project completion. Service-learning modestly but significantly increased older adults' social competence level (<i>p</i> = .041).