AzTrials
AzTrials

AgeismNCT06574243

Positive Education Through Social Media to Reduce Negative Stereotypes Towards Old Age

An observational study of Ageism, run by Universidad de Zaragoza at 1 site in Spain.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

Introduction and Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of positive psychoeducation regarding aging, disseminated through social media channels, in mitigating negative stereotypes. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Ageism
What is being tested?
Social media education
How many people
109 participants
Where
1 siteSpain
Study dates
22 Oct 2022to 15 May 2023
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Study population: 109 participants over 18 years old.

Who may be able to join

  • Being over 18 years old.
  • Participating in both the PRE and POST questionnaires of the Negative Stereotypes towards Old Age Questionnaire (CENVE).
  • Following the Instagram posts related to the intervention for 3 days or more.

Who cannot join

  • Being under 18 years old.
  • Participating in only one questionnaire
  • Following the Instagram posts related to the intervention for less than 3 days.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Spain1 site
  • Universidad de Zaragoza

    Zaragoza, Zarazgoza, 50009

Other trials in Spain

About this study

Official title: Positive Education Through Social Media to Reduce Negative Stereotypes Towards Old Age: a Quasi-experimental Study

Introduction and Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of positive psychoeducation regarding aging, disseminated through social media channels, in mitigating negative stereotypes. Additionally, we aim to explore any potential associations between various sociodemographic variables and the prevalence of negative stereotypes towards the elderly.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study involved an experimental group comprising subjects who underwent a 7-day intervention. The study aimed to evaluate any alterations in negative stereotypes towards aging both before and after the intervention. The intervention consisted of daily publication of positive messages about aging on a social media account. Two questionnaires were used: one collecting sociodemographic variables and the Questionnaire for Evaluating Negative Stereotypes towards Aging. Snowball sampling through social media was employed, with 109 subjects completing the study.

Read the detailed description

This was a quasi-experimental prospective study that used snowball sampling to recruit participants. The study was publicized through Instagram accounts of two authors with a combined following of over 100,000. Of the initial 250 participants, 109 completed the study. Inclusion criteria included:

  1. Being over 18 years old.
  2. Participating in both the PRE and POST questionnaires of the Negative Stereotypes towards Old Age Questionnaire (CENVE).
  3. Following the Instagram posts related to the intervention for 3 days or more.

Instruments:

The evaluation instruments for this study included two online Google Forms questionnaires (See in Supplementary Material) designed for pre- and post-assessment. The pre-assessment questionnaire consisted of two sections: 16 items on sociodemographic data and 15 items from the Negative Stereotypes towards Old Age Questionnaire (CENVE) (Blanca et al., 2005). This instrument assesses individuals' stereotypes towards the older population using a Likert-type response scale ranging from 1 to 4 (1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Somewhat Disagree, 3 = Somewhat Agree, 4 = Strongly Agree). It provides a total score and three dimensions: Health Dimension, Social Motivation Dimension, and Character/Personality Dimension. The maximum score on this questionnaire is 60 points (indicating a high presence of negative stereotypes towards old age), and the minimum score is 15 points (indicating a low presence of such stereotypes).

Procedure:

Both at the initial and final questionnaire stages, that is, before and after the 7-day intervention period of reading the posts, was administered the questionnaire CENVE. Additionally, the post-intervention evaluation included a new question that gathered data on the frequency with which the participant had followed the intervention (0-2, 3-4, and 5-7 days).

Intervention The intervention consisted of daily positive messages about aging posted on an Instagram account (@laetapaplateada), created specifically for this study, and was conducted over the course of a week. Examples included "The ability to make decisions improves with age" and "Emotional regulation improves with age" (David, 2017). These posts were accompanied by their respective author references.

Statistical Analysis:

A paired samples t-test was conducted to compare each subject's total score on the CENVE scale before and after the intervention. To determine if certain sociodemographic variables were associated with the presence of negative stereotypes towards old age, the scores obtained in the PRE questionnaire for each study group were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing. This analysis was performed using Student's t-test (for variables with 2 categories) or ANOVA (for variables with more than 2 categories). The analysis of the "sex" variable was omitted due to low male participation.

Furthermore, to examine if various demographic variables were associated with pre-post differences in the presentation of negative stereotypes towards older people, a Repeated Measures ANOVA was performed for each of the sociodemographic variables collected in the questionnaires: sex, age, marital status, place of residence, cohabitants, religion, education level, occupation, frequency of contact with older people, area of contact with older people, cohabitation with older people, relationship with grandparents, significance level of that relationship, knowledge of any of their grandparents' loss of abilities (physical/mental), frequency of viewing intervention posts on Instagram, etc.

All tests were analyzed using the statistical software Jamovi 2.3.21. Data for the assessment of negative stereotypes towards old age were collected in February and March 2023.

Conditions
Ageism
Being tested
Social media education
Keywords
healthy aging, ageism, negative stereotypes, social media.
Medical subject headings
Ageism

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Social media educationBehavioural

    The intervention consisted of daily positive messages about aging posted on an Instagram account (@laetapaplateada), created specifically for this study, and was conducted over the course of a week. Examples included "The ability to make decisions improves with age" and "Emotional regulation improves with age" (David, 2017). These posts were accompanied by their respective author references

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Reduce negative stereotypes towards older people by viewing positive messages on social networks and subsequent analysis using the CENVE questionnaire

    We use for this study two Google Forms questionnaires designed for pre- and post-assessment. There are two sections: sociodemographic data Negative Stereotypes towards Old Age Questionnaire (CENVE). The post-intervention evaluation included a new questionon the frequency with which the participant had followed the intervention. The intervention consisted of daily positive messages about aging posted on an Instagram account. The primary objective of this study was to analyze whether positive education about aging disseminated through social media could reduce negative stereotypes towards older adults. We collected data on the participants' engagement with the intervention and measure if the participants had lower scores on CENVE than before the intervention.

    Measured: 7 days

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted27 Aug 2024
  2. Study start22 Oct 2022
  3. Primary completion15 May 2023
  4. Study completion15 May 2023

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Other
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
109 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT06574243
Sponsor's protocol ID
U1111-1311-9233
Status last verified
Aug 2024
First submitted
21 Aug 2024
Last updated
27 Aug 2024
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Undecided: The data used to support the findings of the present study are available from the corresponding autor upon request.

Publications

  • Olshansky S, Biggs S, Achenbaum W, Davison G, Fried L, Gutman G, et al. The Global Agenda Council on the Ageing Society: Policy Principles. Global Policy. 2011;2:97-105.

  • World Health Organisation. Global report on ageism.

  • North MS, Fiske ST. Modern Attitudes Toward Older Adults in the Aging World: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis. Psychol Bull. 2015 Sep;141(5):993-1021. doi: 10.1037/a0039469. Epub 2015 Jul 20.

    PubMed 26191955
  • Levy BR, Slade MD, Chang ES, Kannoth S, Wang SY. Ageism Amplifies Cost and Prevalence of Health Conditions. Gerontologist. 2020 Jan 24;60(1):174-181. doi: 10.1093/geront/gny131.

    PubMed 30423119
  • Kornadt AE, Pauly T, Schilling OK, Kunzmann U, Katzorreck M, Lucke AJ, Hoppmann CA, Gerstorf D, Wahl HW. Momentary subjective age is associated with perceived and physiological stress in the daily lives of old and very old adults. Psychol Aging. 2022 Dec;37(8):863-875. doi: 10.1037/pag0000711. Epub 2022 Sep 22.

    PubMed 36136787
  • Nelson TD. Promoting healthy aging by confronting ageism. Am Psychol. 2016 May-Jun;71(4):276-82. doi: 10.1037/a0040221.

    PubMed 27159434
  • Hannah J. Swift. The Risks of Ageism Model: How Ageism and Negative Attitudes toward Age Can Be a Barrier to Active Aging.

  • Burnes D, Sheppard C, Henderson CR Jr, Wassel M, Cope R, Barber C, Pillemer K. Interventions to Reduce Ageism Against Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Am J Public Health. 2019 Aug;109(8):e1-e9. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305123. Epub 2019 Jun 20.

    PubMed 31219720
  • Dulcey Ruiz E, Uribe Valdivieso C. Sistema de Información Científica [Internet]. Vol. 34, Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología. Available from: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=80534202

  • Levin JS, Chatters LM. Religion, health, and psychological well-being in older adults: findings from three national surveys. J Aging Health. 1998 Nov;10(4):504-31. doi: 10.1177/089826439801000406.

    PubMed 10346697
  • Crawford PA. Rock of Ages: Developing Healthy Perspectives of Aging in the Elementary Grades. Child Educ. 2015;91:395-401.

  • Jiménez TMM. Redes sociales en prevención y promoción de la salud. Una revisión de la actualidad = Social networks in prevention and health promotion. A review of the current. REVISTA ESPAÑOLA DE COMUNICACIÓN EN SALUD. 2015 [cited 2024 Feb 1];62-9.

  • Valle CG, Tate DF, Mayer DK, Allicock M, Cai J. A randomized trial of a Facebook-based physical activity intervention for young adult cancer survivors. J Cancer Surviv. 2013 Sep;7(3):355-68. doi: 10.1007/s11764-013-0279-5. Epub 2013 Mar 27.

    PubMed 23532799
  • Ridout B, Campbell A. Using Facebook to deliver a social norm intervention to reduce problem drinking at university. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2014 Nov;33(6):667-73. doi: 10.1111/dar.12141. Epub 2014 Apr 1.

    PubMed 24689339
  • Pechmann C, Delucchi K, Lakon CM, Prochaska JJ. Randomised controlled trial evaluation of Tweet2Quit: a social network quit-smoking intervention. Tob Control. 2017 Mar;26(2):188-194. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2015-052768. Epub 2016 Feb 29.

    PubMed 26928205

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Ageism, run by Universidad de Zaragoza at 1 site in Spain.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 27 Aug 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Spain. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Reduce negative stereotypes towards older people by viewing positive messages on social networks and subsequent analysis using the CENVE questionnaire (time frame: 7 days). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT06574243, which also lists 30 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 27 Aug 2024.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in