Are You Speaking Elderspeak? In "Sweetie" and "Dear" There’s Hurt for Seniors

Date
Oct 7th, 2008 4:50pm
Author
Eric Schubert
Category
Check out the article by John Leland at The New York Times on "elderspeak" … it ties directly to customer service in aging services …
Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as “dear.” “People think they’re being nice,” said Elvira Nagle, 83, of Dublin, Calif., “but when I hear it, it raises my hackles.” Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them, said Becca Levy, an associate professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University, who studies the health effects of such messages on elderly people. “Those little insults can lead to more negative images of aging,” Dr. Levy said. “And those who have more negative images of aging have worse functional health over time, including lower rates of survival.” In a long-term survey of 660 people over age 50 in a small Ohio town, published in 2002, Dr. Levy and her fellow researchers found that those who had positive perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer, a bigger increase than that associated with exercising or not smoking. The findings held up even when the researchers controlled for differences in the participants’ health conditions… . . Read John’s full article here.

1 Comments

  1. Name
    ANTJE VANCE
    Date
    Oct 31st, 2008 10:11pm

    Yes.. it is patronizing to be called DEAR or SWEETIE by a young waitress or to be called by me first name in a doctors office. It is even more discouraging when I am in my wheelchair and people around me literally talk DOWN to me or act as if I was not even present or speak loudly, as though not being able to walk very well has also rendered me deaf and stupid. My daughter, who is a R.N. sees this type of DUMBING DOWN OLDER FOLKS all the time in her profession. I have a first name that is very hard to pronounce (it's dutch) and I usually sign in as MRS. VANCE and when asked how they should say my first name, I politely state " Mrs. Vance will do just fine".

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