Abstract
Despite the existing digital divide between older adults and younger generations, little research exists on intergenerational programmatic efforts to educate older adults about digital literacy. Using data collected from seniors centers and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through the Cyber-Seniors program, where young adult volunteers mentored an older adult partner in digital literacy, this study examined pre/post test outcomes for older adult program participants (N=29, M age=73.45, SD=5.98) who completed at least three program sessions and pre/post test outcomes for young adult volunteers (N=28, M age= 21.81, SD= 2.03). Paired sample t-tests were conducted with SPSS v. 24. Two coders used NVIVO to phenomenologically code open-ended question responses (inter-coder agreement: 93.1%). Finally, three qualitative themes were paired with corresponding quantitative data. Qualitative findings show themes of (1) stronger intergenerational connections, (2) decreased stereotypes about older adults using technology, and (3) increased older adult self-efficacy following program participation. The corresponding quantitative findings for each theme show 1) increased social engagement among older adults 2) improved attitudes towards aging populations for young adult mentors and 3) significant (p<0.05) increases in older adults’ attitudes about their own technology use with a medium effect size. These findings should be considered as community programs are developed to meet the needs of older adults; digital literacy is an important consideration and intergenerational programs that teach digital literacy need to be developed, implemented, and studied to help bridge the digital and generational divide.