老人歧視

Ageism

本文是藉由文獻探討，瞭解老人歧視的相關理論、呈現方式、影響因素、老人自覺到的歧視與反應，以及改善老人歧視的措施。老人歧視是只因老人年長，就給予偏見及輕視，這些歧視會受個人知識、經驗的影響，表現方式有保護性語言、假正向態度、藉幽默之名公開嘲弄、先入為主的觀念、甚至老人虐待。老人自覺受到的歧視多為他人的態度不佳，缺乏同理心，被忽略、隔離、不耐煩，他人歧視的態度也會降低老人身心功能的表現。老人對於歧視的處理多為採取否認、忍耐、不與計較，避開這些情境，或是積極改變自己。建議可藉一般及特殊教育、改善老人形象，以及增進群眾與老人的互動，增加對老人的瞭解，改善刻板印象，減低老人歧視。

Ageism is an unfair judgment on elders simply because of their advanced age. The judgment may be influenced by personal knowledge and experience. In this article, the authors introduce the related theories, manifestations and influential factors of ageism, and describe the perceived discriminations and the responses to ageism of the elders. The manifestations of ageism include such as patronizing language, pseudo-positive attitudes, laughing with derogatory humor, preconception and elder abuse. The negative attitudes and discriminations that elders often perceived are lacking empathy, being neglected, being isolated and impatient. Elders who have the experiences of discriminations and ageism often perform worse physical and mental functions than those have not. Elders always passively regard it as aloofly neglect, unconcerned, tolerable, or actively changing themselves. The strategies of diminishing aging stereotypes and discriminations include that to advance the education level of population, to educate population by specified knowledge of aging, to ameliorate public policies and welfare about the elders, and to improve the interaction between elder and younger generations.