Reducing Ageism in Organizations: A Study Protocol

N/ANot Yet RecruitingNCT07484165

University of Salamanca90 enrolled

Overview

Background: This article presents the protocol for a randomised controlled trial designed to develop and evaluate a psychoeducational intervention aimed at reduce ageism in the workplace, will improve attitudes toward older workers as well as various indicators of well-being and psychosocial functioning in the professional context. Methods: The study will be conducted at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Salamanca (Spain). Currently employed with at least five years of tenure in the organization or the relevant sector, performing tasks that involve frequent collaboration with colleagues from different generations will be recruited. Participants will be randomly assigned to two groups: the intervention group, which will undergo a psychoeducational programme consisting of 12 sessions over 3 months; and the control group, which will receive a educational programme of one session. All participants will complete initial and final assessments, as well as a 3-month follow-up, collecting sociodemographic data and applying various psychological, social and health assessment instruments. Discussion: This protocol describes a comprehensive psychoeducational intervention aimed at reducing negative stereotypical beliefs about older workers and enhance relevant psychosocial variables in the organizational environment, such as job satisfaction, psychological flexibility, perceived social support, perceived health, and self-efficacy in navigating intergenerational work situations. The evidence generated will guide future interventions, policies, and educational programmes to promote preparing workers and teams in several key areas, such as recognising and challenging age-related stereotypes, developing empathy towards colleagues from different generations, promoting inclusive practices in daily interaction and work collaboration and fostering a more equitable and respectful organisational climate towards all ages.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Interventions

Psychoeducational ProgrammeBEHAVIORAL

The programme seeks to reduce stereotypes and negative attitudes towards older workers, promoting an inclusive and generationally diverse work environment. Its objectives include improving: attitudes towards older workers, psychological flexibility, perceived social support, well-being at work, perceived health, and self-efficacy in managing intergenerational teams.

Education ProgrammeBEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive general information and recommendations to foster inclusive attitudes towards older workers and promote a positive intergenerational work environment. This minimally active intervention provides basic support without the structured sessions of the psychoeducational programme, facilitating the comparison of effects between groups.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Currently employed with at least five years of tenure in the organization or the relevant sector. At this stage of their career, attitudes toward colleagues from different generations are considered more likely to be deeply ingrained, making this profile particularly suitable for the intervention. * Performing tasks that involve frequent collaboration with colleagues from different generations. * Ability and willingness to attend the program sessions regularly. Exclusion Criteria: Workers who meet any of the following conditions will be excluded from the study: * Significant reading or linguistic comprehension difficulties that prevent them from participating adequately in psychoeducational sessions or completing assessment instruments. * Serious and destabilised medical or psychological disorders that may interfere with the normal development of the programme (e.g., severe untreated depressive episodes, limiting neurological disorders). * Failure to meet the inclusion criteria, specifically not having been with the company for at least five years or not participating in intergenerational teams. * Refusal to sign the informed consent form or lack of availability to attend programme sessions regularly.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Attitudes toward older workers

Measured by the Stereotypes toward Aging at Work Questionnaire (CETV-T), adapted from the CENVE (Blanca et al., 2005). It consists of 20 self-administered items, with a 7-point Likert-type scale (from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree). It assesses four dimensions related to negative attitudes towards retirement: (1) health, (2) economy, (3) status and (4) leisure/family. The final scores indicate more negative attitudes the higher the value obtained. The full scale has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.80, for the factors, the values obtained are: Leisure/leisure time-family an alpha of 0.836, economy 0.791, status 0.78 and health 0.69 (although this factor has the lowest value it is still considered acceptable within psychometric research standards).