Dr Gail Kenning
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Interdisciplinary Fellow Ageing Futures Institute
Researcher NEURA
02 8936 0598
Dr Kenning’s research focuses on ageing and dementia and how arts engagement and creativity can support physical and mental health and wellbeing. Her research and practice explores creativity from two perspectives:
- How creativity can support and facilitate health and wellbeing in ageing and dementia (e.g., contributing to social engagement, connection, mental health, etc.); and
- How creative approaches as methodologies for the collection of data to better understand the concerns, needs, and embodied lived experience of older people in relation to physical and mental health and social engagement/disengagement and connection/disconnection. Creative approaches include participatory creative workshops, arts based methodologies, and deliberative discussion, storytelling and creative making.
Related publications: https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-gail-kenning/publications
Research areas: Anxiety, Depression, Resilience, Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease
Projects Dr Gail Kenning is currently involved with
CURRENT PROJECTS
The INTERgenerAtional Clinical Trial In at risk Older adults and preschool childreN (INTERACTION) (A
There is increasing evidence to show that intergenerational interaction is beneficial for older adults and children alike. Higher levels of social engagement in older adults have been associated with better physical and cognitive function and wellbeing. Time spent with older adults has been linked to enhanced social and personal skills in children. However, familial intergenerational interaction is falling despite rising numbers of community-based older adults. In Australia alone approximately 15% of the total population are aged 65 and over, up from 5% in the 1920s and estimated to increase to 22% (8.8 million) in the next 30-40 years. Employment and economic factors drive greater geographical mobility of working age adults, resulting in increased separation from older family members with 40% of Australians aged 75-84 and 51% of those 85 and over living alone. Recent television series in Australia and the United Kingdom, have raised awareness and enthusiasm for intergenerational activities as an opportunity that could be realised within communities. However, while intergenerational programs are gaining in popularity globally, evidence for best practice in this area remains scarce.
In the INTERACTION trial led by Associate Professor Ruth Peters, we are collecting data to help us understand whether an intergenerational program (that is bringing older adults and pre-schoolers together to complete purposeful structured activities) helps to reduce frailty in the older adults. We are also measuring what happens to the children as we think it will help them with things like school readiness.
Our INTERACTION trial builds on our previous pilot work in the Intergenerational Integration Initiative (3i) project. In our previous work we answered three questions: We systematically reviewed the scientific evidence for community-based intergenerational programs and found that this was lacking. We asked the public and local community members what they thought about intergenerational programs and found that people are supportive and perceive such programs to be helpful. Finally, we ran a successful small pilot program in a Sydney community to test whether such programs were feasible. Our published work on the 3i project can be found here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33567363/, and here https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/374
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