Elderhostel Programs Research Articles

Motivations and Benefits of the Travel Experiences of Older Adults

The motivations and benefits of educational travel among individuals aged 55 years old and over were examined in this study. A total of 136 older adults enrolled in Elderhostel programs participated in this study and reported their perceived benefits and motivations for engaging in educational travel experiences. Correlation analyses were used to explore relationships between the adults' perceived benefits and motivations. Analyses of variance were conducted and significant differences in adults' motivations for educational travel were found by gender, education level, health, and activity level of the program. The findings from this study are discussed in terms of successful aging, and implications for organizations offering educational travel programs are provided.

Motivations of Elderhostel Participants in Selected United States and European Educational Travel Programs

Elderhostel is an educational, travel and leisure oriented non-profit organization for the elderly, offering both domestic and international programs. Two-hundred and twenty-three participants in international Elderhostel programs and 223 participants in domestic Elderhostel programs completed useable surveys designed to identify differences in motivation for attendance. Logistic regression was used to specify the differences in motivations among these “education travelers.” Of the twenty-three motivations examined, five were more significant to international travelers and five were significantly more important to domestic travelers. International Elderhostelers were motivated more by the history and culture of the area where the program was held, safety provided by group travel, desire for travel, desire to socialize with locals, and visiting one's ancestral home. Domestic Elderhostelers were more motivated by the accommodations, word of mouth, program dates, the opportunity to escape personal problems, and the Elderhostel course topics.

Busy travelers: Leisure-travel patterns and meanings in later life

For many later lire and retirement are characterized by the freedom to pursue activities that have been postponed from earlier life stages. One such activity especially for middle-class Americans, is leisure-travel. Face to face semi-structured interviews were conducted with six men and five women ranging in age from 65 to 90 years asking them about their leisure-travel patterns and the meanings that such travel held for them. Constant comparison was used throughout the interviews and the analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). A life course perspective was adopted whereby participants were asked to reflect upon travel throughout their lives. In retirement, most of the individuals were busy travelers taking trips to Europe, engaging in Elderhostel programs, and traveling throughout the US to visit friends and family. Most of the participants felt that leisure-travel was an important part of their lives and the educational and spiritual opportunities it provided made it meaningful. Four of the participants did not travel to the same extent citing age, lack of a companion, or no interest as reasons for this. A life course perspective provided insights into the dynamic quality of leisure-travel. For most of these middle-class older adults, leisure-travel was an important part of later life.

Elderhostels: Teaching and Learning with Americans of German Descent

An is an educational adventure for older adults who love to be challenged by new experiences.1 There are no prerequisites, exams, or grades. It generally lasts five days and is open to adults age 55 or older; however, a spouse or companion may be younger. In 1990 we were asked to conduct an Elderhostel about German-Americans. Since then we have taught two each year with an average of thirty-five participants. Because of southern Indiana's strong German background, we chose the Kordes Enrichment Center of the Benedictine Monastery of the Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana, for our site. The nuns in this monastery originally came from Eichstitt (Bavaria) to minister to German Catholics. The town was founded with support by Vienna's LeopoldinenStiftung and is named after the Austrian emperor Ferdinand. From the gravestones to the mailboxes, the town is 99% German; one can savor old time German-American cooking and still find fourthgeneration folks who speak the German-American dialect of the region. The breakfast cook might greet you with Wie bischt heit? and Mog'st an coffee? At the Lindauer farm, both father and son prefer to speak German-although neither had it in school. The workshops are based on expressed needs and interests that often go beyond facts, figures, and methods of heritage studies. For many elderhostelers, this means becoming acquainted with a heritage formerly denied them due to the anti-German sentiment resulting from the two world wars. We designed three Elderhostel programs. Their structures and materials were developed in response to feedback from these and other workshops and seminars. 1. Exploring Our German-American Heritage provides a general introduction to the German-American experience and GermanAmerican Studies. 2. German-American Customs, Beliefs, and Traditions provides an introduction to the German-American experience with special emphasis on folkloristic aspects. 3. German-American Genealogy, Family History, and Community History is conducted jointly with genealogist Ernest Thode, a nationally known authority in roots research in German-speaking Europe.

OUTCOMES OF ELDERHOSTEL PARTICIPATION

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to determine in what ways and to what extent elderly women perceived a change in their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors as result of participation in an Elderhostel program. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 12 participants of five Elderhostel programs in a western state. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) method for developing grounded theory was used to analyze the interview information. Interviews produced six general‐outcome themes and 11 subthemes. General‐outcome themes were appreciations, Elderhostel support, social contact, travel, learning, and follow‐up activities. The 11 subthemes were cultural appreciation, other appreciation, self‐appreciation, historical appreciation, Elderhostel loyalty, recruitment of others, social contact, travel, content learning, general learning, and follow‐up activities. The particular educational needs of the elderly described by McCluskey (1971)—coping, influence, expressive, and contributive needs—were met for th...

Personality and Affective Correlates of Leisure Activity Participation by Older People

Participation by older people in leisure activities was studied cross-sectionally in relation to hypothesized personality and affective correlates. Specifically, a dual-channel conception guided the design of the study and the analysis of the data. Two hypotheses expressed basic assertions of the dual-channel conception. First, a set of outwardly-oriented dimensions of affect experiencing were expected to be related to high levels of leisure activity participation, and that high participation would, in turn, be related to high positive affective traits. Second, inwardly-oriented experiencing dimensions were hypothesized to be minimally related to participation, and such participation would be minimally effective in reducing negative affect traits. These hypotheses were tested on 828 participants of 26 Elderhostel programs, who responded to a questionnaire measuring six dimensions of affective experiencing, extent of leisure activity participation, and six affect traits. In general, the hypotheses were supported.

Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups.

The dimensions by which adults of differing ages experience emotion were studied by self-administering questionnaires administered to older adults (n = 828) recruited from Elderhostel programs, middle-aged (ages 30-59) children of Elderhostel attenders (n = 231), and young adult (ages 18-29) subjects recruited from college classes or through Elderhostel participants (n = 207). Elders were higher in emotional control, mood stability, and emotional maturity through moderation and leveling of positive affect and lower in surgency, psychophysiological responsiveness, and sensation seeking. These findings are consistent with the hypothesized increase in self-regulatory capacity with age. These cross-sectional differences cannot, however, be distinguished from cohort-related explanations; they require considerable replication across different types of subjects and further characterization of the dimensions in terms of their functions for self-regulation.

TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE PARTICIPATION OF OLDER ADULTS IN CONTINUING EDUCATION

The graying of North America presents a unique set of issues that no society has yet had to come to terms with. Throughout history the young have outnumbered the old. We are now reaching a period where the number of adults who supply the tax base and support both the very young and the very old is decreasing, whereas the proportion of older adults is increasing rapidly. This raises issues that impact directly on the economic, political, and educational beliefs and practices of society. The impact on adult education is already being felt. There is a growing demand by older adults for more education. This is reflected in the specialized programs offered by universities and colleges, government and industry, and voluntary and religious organizations (Waskel, 1991). Increasing numbers of older people are enrolling in tuition‐waiver programs (Perkins & Robertson‐Tchabo, 1981), elderhostel programs (Romaniuk & Roma‐niuk, 1991), and adult‐education programs in general (Heisel, Darkenwald, & Anderson, 1981). The ...

Educational Programs for Older Adults:

This study identified course selection and motivational factors that influenced participation in Elderhostel and community-based educational programs for older adults. Fifty-nine individuals, ranging in age from 58 to 83, were surveyed. The participants were interested in taking a significantly greater variety of both instrumental and expressive course offerings at Elderhostel than within their own communities. To gain new knowledge was the most frequent reason given for participation in both types of programs.

PARTICIPATION MOTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES AMONG OLDER LEARNERS

Although older students are participating in formal educational programs at increasingly higher rates, few studies have examined learning outcomes or the relationship between motivational factors for participation and outcomes. This research project surveyed 560 older students attending Elderhostel programs. The purpose of the study was to examine self‐reported learning outcomes and study the predictive relationships between reasons for participation and outcomes. Students reported moderate levels of growth on two outcomes factors: humanities/critical thinking and human relations/personal development. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the best predictors of learning outcomes among older participants in Elderhostel programs were setting clear goals for learning and the specific nature of the courses and institutions attended.

Selected Predictors of Responsible Environmental Behavior: An Analysis

Abstract In this study, we examined the relative contribution of eight variables in predicting responsible environmental behavior. Scores on a validated behavior instrument served as the criterion. High and low behavior groups selected from 171 respondents were compared using members of midwestern Sierra Clubs and Elderhostel programs as subjects. Multilinear regression analyses were used to determine the performance of each predictor variable and to ascertain the most parsimonious set of variables that predicts environmental behavior. Seven of eight variables were found to be statistically significant. They were: (1) level of environmental sensitivity, (2) perceived knowledge of environmental action strategies, (3) perceived skill in using environmental action strategies, (4) psychological sex role classification, (5) individual locus of control, (6) group locus of control, and (7) attitude toward pollution. The one nonsignificant variable was (8) belief in technology. Stepwise regression showed that the...

DEMOGRAPHIC AND EDUCATIONAL CORRELATES OF SELF‐REPORTED LEARNING AMONG OLDER STUDENTS

This survey research project examined correlates of perceived educational benefits in a sample of 560 older persons participating in 20 New England Elderhostel programs. While socio‐demographic and educational characteristics of the participants did not account for a large amount of the variance in perceived growth, level of education completed and sex emerged as significant correlates of growth. Persons of lower socio‐economic and educational status reported greater levels of learning than did those with higher levels of income and education.

The ELDERHOSTEL philosophy

This paper describes the philosophy of ELDERHOSTEL, an organization which began in 1975 with five colleges in New Hampshire offering a total of 15 weeks of higher education programs for persons 60 years of age and older. By the summer of 1979, more than 500 weeks of ELDERHOSTEL programs were being offered at 235 college and university campuses in 37 states.