Birthday cards making jokes based on one’s age, “anti-aging” beauty care products, objecting to hire someone over a certain age, and disregarding someone’s health concerns due to their age, are some of the examples related to stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding age today. Ageism, refers to prejudice, stereotypes or discrimination towards others or oneself based on age.
Sadly, Ageism is quite prevalent in health care settings, with ~20% of people over 50 facing such discrimination. Older adults in particular face disproportionate levels of ageism within healthcare in the following ways:
- Being ignored, patronized or subjected to condescending remarks during medical appointments
- Medical professionals dismissing health concerns of older adults as “senior moments”
Stereotyping and discrimination related to Ageism can have serious impacts on the wellbeing of older adults, leading to further health declines. According to Govt. of Canada statistics, this occurs in 3 primary ways:
- Psychological: they may believe the comments or stereotypes related to Ageism as true.
- Behavioral: they may accept that their poor health is inevitable, or even untreatable. This may cause disengagement from healthy behaviors towards improving their own health.
- Physiological: Ageism reactions may lead to stress and negative cardiovascular responses in seniors (e.g., increased BP, heart rate etc.), which can adversely impact overall health.
Ageism can create barriers in access to appropriate health care for older adults and increase the overall stress and costs for the medical infrastructure.
Addressing ageism in a health care setting is hard but necessary. While the primary responsibility rests with medical professionals, each one of us can make a difference. By recognizing Ageism when it occurs, speaking up against age related remarks and creating further awareness (within our families / workplaces) towards adopting age-inclusive behaviors, we can start to combat the negative effects of Ageism on older adults within our communities.
