Meaning-making in an intergenerational project: a dialogic narrative analysis of young children’s interactions with older adults

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reports on findings from a case study of an intergenerational project between a nursery school and a residential care home for people with dementia in the South-East of England. It examines how multi-modalities support meaning-making between 3-year-old children and older adults. The study is qualitative, interpretative and explorative. Data were collected using naturalistic observations of children and older adults during intergenerational sessions at the care home and qualitative interviews with nursery school practitioners. The analysis draws on a dialogic narrative approach informed by the work of Mikhal Bakhtin. Our research demonstrates how multi-modalities support young children’s engagement and meaning-making with older adults. The findings explore how the context of the intergenerational sessions was influential in shaping the interactions between the children and older adults. The study contributes to existing research, as well as offering new understandings about the interactions between children and older adults within a co-located intergenerational project. Our research would suggest a benefit in the re-establishment of intergenerational practice in a post-pandemic context when such encounters pose less physical health risks.