USING INTERACTIVE TELEVISION TECHNOLOGY TO DISSEMINATE APPLIED GERONTOLOGICAL INFORMATION

As the number of older people, particularly those 85 and older, continues to increase, older persons themselves, family caregivers, and service providers need coordinated information distilled from gerontological research to cope with the issues and conditions brought about by the aging process in the context of contemporary American society. The State of Michigan, through the Calvin College-Grand Rapids Community College Consortium on Aging, has funded the development of a model regularly-scheduled interactive television series to disseminate gerontological information to support successful independent living for elders. According to studies by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and others, increasingly, more and more middle- and older-aged persons will utilize educational approaches in trying to cope with the changing life circumstances they and their families face as they grow older. This is because the proportion of middle- and older-aged persons with at least a high school education increases with each successive cohort of the population. Professionals in the aging networks on the national and state levels are calling for increased, coordinated information/educational approaches to help people deal with the realities of aging in contemporary American communities. The Administration of Aging has suggested that there is no realistic way the United States will be able to deal effectively with all the ramifications of a rapidly aging society unless communities form partnerships between institutions of higher education and community-based agencies to develop educational strategies in combination with the delivery of key services to empower older people to maintain independent living in their own homes. This model project mobilizes and coordinates resources in a metropolitan area (Grand Rapids/Kent County with over 500,000 people) to educate older and younger persons to grow older independently and successfully through regularly scheduled interactive television programs. These programs focus on the specific issues and resources pertinent to successful aging in contemporary American society.