Context and Stakeholders
Questions that have informed our context have been drawn from the work of Brown and Green (2015).
​What problem exists or what change is being requested?
Conversations with our client (Dr. Tara Cortes) and subject matter expert (Dr. Donna McCabe), data from our learner survey and interviews, and literature research indicate that older adults are negatively impacted by scams, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Our team would like to help older adults gain the necessary skills to identify, define, and avoid harmful scams, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. This problem will be further explained in the Needs Analysis.
Who is being asked to change?
​For our research, we define the older adult population as 60 years and older in age. We plan to design an educational intervention that aims to change the behaviors of the older adult population so that they are better able to identify and address misinformation, scams and conspiracy theories when they encounter it in their lives.
What is currently taking place in this environment with this individual(s)?
Rasi and Rivinen (2021) conducted a systematic review of studies on media literacy educational interventions for older adults and discovered that the majority of interventions that have been established from 2009-to 2019 were specifically geared towards health literacy interventions. Only one study covered topics specific to fostering older adults’ critical media-literacy skills. Education for older adults on critical media-literacy skills is a much-needed area of growth.
Stakeholder
Our client, Dr. Tara Cortes, is helping our team navigate the creation and future implementation of this educational initiative for the older adult population.
Tara Cortes
Ph.D, MA, FAAN
NYU Clinical Professor
Executive Director, Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing
Dr. Cortes has provided significant contributions to advance the health of people, particularly older vulnerable adults, over her distinguished career. She has helped change policy and practice in geriatric care and in low-vision and blindness care by developing roles for an interprofessional healthcare team to provide care for those with poor access to resources due to lack of knowledge or functional disabilities. As the client for our project, she will be aiding us by providing her expert insight into the older adult population and helping us shape the educational initiative to fit into common spaces for older persons such as libraries, senior centers, and adult day centers.
References
Brown, A. H., & Green, T. D. (2015). The essentials of instructional design: Connecting fundamental principles with process and practice, third edition. Routledge.
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Rasi, P., Vuojärvi, H., & Rivinen, S. (2021). Promoting Media Literacy Among Older People: A Systematic Review. Adult Education Quarterly, 71(1), 37–54. https://doi-org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/10.1177/0741713620923755