︎ Stories to Heal
Supporting aging immigrants and strengthening intergenerational bonds through reminiscence therapy.
By Amy Chew ︎
The aging immigrant population is one that continues to grow and will make up a significant percentage of those 65 years and older living in the United States. In 2018, there were an estimated 7.3 million foreign born individuals 65 years and older which comprised 13.9 percent of the total older population in the United States. New York, in particular, is home to many foreign born seniors where “49.5 percent of New Yorkers ages 65 or older are foreign-born [which is] nearly equal to the native born share” (Rivera, 2015). The numbers of older aging immigrants are expected to increase to 22.0 million foreign born individuals which will make up 23 percent of the total older population in 2060 (Mizoguchi et al., 2019).
Aging foreign-born populations / 2020
The proposed solution is a mobile app where users can build a virtual family museum. The intervention allows users to upload media, collaborate and explore museum virtual exhibits in real time. Stories to Heal creates a space where an elderly person can reflect on their past life events and interact with younger generations. The virtual stage to interact and reflect creates a sense of accomplishment, strengthens intergenerational bonds and reduces feelings of social isolation and depression.
Upload Media: Users can upload personal family artifacts such as photos, videos to the platform and support these artifacts with text and audio. This provides users creative freedom to curate content and retell their unique stories.
Collaborate: Users can be a virtual museum owner individually or with a group or family.
Explore: Users can get together in real time to explore exhibits together. Chat functionality facilitates this interaction.
Upload Media
CollaborateDesign to Outcomes
Providing virtual space for the elderly immigrants to reflect on past life events and interact with younger generation in order to increase feelings of accomplishment and purposefulness, strengthen intergenerational bonds and reduce feelings of social isolation and depression.
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Works Cited
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Mizoguchi, Nobuko, Laquitta Walker, Edward Trevelyan, and Bashiruddin Ahmed, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Reports, ACS-42, The Older Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2012–2016, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2019.
Rivera, Christian (2017 May). The Aging Apple: Older Immigrants a rising share of New York’s Seniors. Center for an Urban Future. https://nycfuture.org/research/the-aging-apple.
Semple, Kirk (2013 July). Immigrant Struggles Compounded with Age. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/nyregion/poverty-looms-large-for-citys-aging-immigrant-population-study-says.html.
Sadarangani, T. R., & Jun, J. (2015). Newly arrived elderly immigrants: a concept analysis of “aging out of place”. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(2), 110-117.
Torres, S. & Cao, Xuemei (2018 August 20). The Immigrant Grandparents that America Needs. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/opinion/family-immigration-grandparents.html.