EFFECTS OF A TOURISM AWARENESS PROGRAM ON THE ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGEOF OLDER ADULTS

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether older adults can learn cognitively and attitudinally from a one-time exposure to i nformation presented in an incidental fashion (i.e., information indiv iduals are not actively seeking but that is presented while they are e ngaged in another activity, such as a social gathering). In this case, the information presented was a lecture and film on tourism. The stud y also sought to determine if these older adults could retain this inf ormation over a long-term period (1 month). The sample (N = 213) consi sted of members of six American Association of Retired Persons groups and one church senior citizen group. Participants were divided into a control group and an experimental group and given a pretest. After hea ring a lecture and seeing a film on tourism awareness, the experimenta l group was given an immediate posttest. One month later, these partic ipants were given a delayed posttest to determine if they had retained the information given the month before. The control group (no lecture or film) completed the posttest 1 month after completing the pretest. Findings showed that older adults can learn (cognitively and attitudi nally) and retain what they have learned cognitively over a 1-month pe riod. Less noteworthy differences mere found in the attitude results a cross groups.