Never the shy or retiring type, Jennifer Salisbury has nonetheless learned a great deal about retiring.
Having enrolled in a doctor of education degree program, she was searching for the subject matter for her research. Her initial areas of interest were not panning out.
She reached a point where she shrugged her shoulders and asked “now what?” Her university advisors said to look at her local community, the demographics and to pull the census.
“They suggested I look at something regarding adult learning, which was the specialization of my doctorate,” Salisbury said. “They suggested I look at a local common problem.”
The Canadian 2011 census had come out and showed Powell River had aged significantly.
“So now we’re 10 years older than the provincial average,” Salisbury said. “The average person is 51 here in Powell River and provincial average is 47. Our population went down slightly. Not only are we older, we are less in volume.”
Looking at the makeup of Powell River, Salisbury considered that this is a mill town. “We have all of these retirees that are from the mill,” she said. “What’s happening with all of that knowledge? That’s the gist of how I started.”
Salisbury was a member of the US Navy, who attended the US Naval Academy from 1994 to 1998. She said her naval training showed her a great deal about mentorship and intergenerational communication.
“I learned from the guys that had been there forever,” Salisbury said. “I was their shadow. I shut up and watched what they did and I learned. That was their knowledge transfer to me.”
She later completed a masters of business administration degree during which she concentrated on learning and knowledge management. This was formative for her latest academic pursuit.
“The doctoral opportunity came up and I went: knowledge transfer is where it’s at,” Salisbury said. “You have to keep passing down these lessons learned or they are going to die.”
When it came time to track the intergenerational transfer of knowledge between Powell River retirees and younger generations, Salisbury went looking for subjects for her research. Not everyone who participated in Salisbury’s research was a mill retiree, but many were. Participants in the research ranged from about 60 to 80 years of age.
One of Salisbury’s discoveries was that many people surveyed said what they did career-wise was no longer relevant because parts of their job function had been replaced by technology. Of those retirees she spoke with, 40 per cent believed they had nothing to pass along.
“I was floored,” she said. “A lot of their career lessons learned are not necessarily transferrable. But that’s not the only thing we were talking about. We were talking about career lessons learned, life lessons learned, family lessons learned—all these different perspectives. What motivates Powell River retirees to pass down, what could they pass down and would they voluntarily pass that down?”
Demand for participation in the research by Powell River retirees exceeded expectation. She only required between 18 and 29 participants for her interviews and focus groups according to her university’s instruction. When word of the research became common knowledge, people were calling Salisbury and stopping by her house. Even after her research had concluded, she was still receiving calls from local retirees who wanted to be involved.
In all, 80 people expressed an interest in participating. Salisbury had to go back to her university to see if she could accommodate more retirees than the initial stipulation. Her university complied with the request and she had a total of 40 participants.
For her research, the definition of retiree came into play. The inclusion criteria involved living in the Powell River region, being retired from a corporate position and receiving a corporate pension. Those requirements were the number one reason for eligibility.
The majority of study participants had lived in Powell River for a considerable time. The average residency in this community was about 36 years.
“They clearly had a Powell River job and had retired from it,” Salisbury said. Longevity in the community, however, is no guarantee of a wide social net, she found.
“It was evident that even for people who had lived here a long time that there were closed social circles,” she said. Salisbury said statistics indicate that 17 per cent of BC seniors are socially isolated.
Another detail arising from the study was that technology can be a barrier to communication between generations. A number of retirees surveyed felt younger people are moving away too quickly and are distracted by technology. Many of the interviewees indicated they don’t interact with younger generations.
Salisbury identified several different areas of activity that were good for intergenerational interaction and none of them involved a smartphone. Mentorship, storytelling in a variety of media, seniors’ involvement in activities such as a foster grandparent program, better marketing to volunteers and social help were all areas identified as mechanisms for greater intergenerational involvement.
Salisbury will be presenting her findings at several community forums, as stipulated by her educational institution. The first will be a public presentation at 7 pm on Monday, September 15, at Evergreen Theatre, Powell River Recreation Complex.
“I need to give it back to Powell River,” she said. “The main presentation on September 15 is a requirement of the degree. I have to brief my shareholders, which is the community of Powell River, about my research.”
She will also be speaking at Vancouver Island University’s Elder College, and will run a session on marketing to volunteers.
The doctoral study was a huge building block for Salisbury.
She now has roots here and calls herself a Powell Riverite. “I feel I have earned that title with the years I have spent researching Powell River,” she said.
Editor's Note: The average age for Powell River's population has been corrected in this article, from what was printed in the Peak. The average age is 51 years.
Study researches methodologies to connect generations
Social acceptance and technology seen as barriers
Talking about retirees never gets old for Jennifer Salisbury.
Appearing at City of Powell River Council’s committee of the whole, recently, Salisbury outlined research on retirees that she conducted in Powell River as the core of her studies for a doctor of education degree from Walden University in Minnesota.
In the fall of 2012 she was granted permission from her university to research and collect data from Powell River retirees. At that point she needed to speak to between 18 and 29 retirees. What she was trying to find out is how to improve knowledge transfer and pass-down from retirees to younger generations. This encompassed more than just youth and also involved adults younger than the retirees.
“The questions I was looking at were what kinds of things could Powell River retirees pass down and what do they do?” she said. “Also, what motivates these retirees to act in general, and what type of influence does Powell River play in that communication?”
Salisbury said within three days she had a sufficient number of retirees to begin her research.
“The study was so oversubscribed,” she said. “The university, quite honestly, had never heard of that. It’s usually the other way around, where you don’t get enough participants.”
In terms of the data collected, Salisbury said that Powell River retirees, for the most part, were ready to retire financially, but not socially. Many struggled with the transfer of their identities as employees to retirees.
Some of the negative aspects the data revealed included BC Ferries, especially when families couldn’t afford to travel to Powell River.
“But the biggest negative impact was Powell River’s closed social circle,” Salisbury said. “This was across the board. People said Powell River was very friendly, but they also said when they tried to get into groups, they were excluded. This was very powerful because it was an individual impact.”
Salisbury said technology was the greatest barrier to intergenerational communication from the perspective of the retirees. They thought younger generations were “distracted by all of the gadgets,” such as smartphones, the Internet, and all of the other implements that retirees may or may not understand.
“However, participants did find success in communicating with people and interacting with people using non-technology activities,” Salisbury said. This includes activities such as walking dogs, painting boats, or wearing a fun fedora hat. “All of this stuff came up where it was sort of an informal link that let them connect with younger generations,” Salisbury said. “None of them had to do with technology.”
Several ideas emerged to connect the generations. These included improved marketing for volunteer opportunities. A foster grandparent program was another idea that arose. More storytelling opportunities in a variety of media was mentioned, plus a mentoring program. More social transition help for people approaching retirement and already in retirement was another item brought up.
Salisbury said a project has to come out of this research: a social transition workshop for retirees.
In the Vancouver Island University course guide, there will be an Elder College course on planning for and enjoying retirement. This will be one of the outgrowths of the research.
Mayor Dave Formosa said he’s heard from people having moved into this community that have said exactly what Salisbury stated about some of the barriers. “They say it’s a great place to live but breaking that social network and gaining acceptance in peer groups is difficult,” Formosa said. “I’m really interested to learn how we as a community can bridge that gap.”
He said it’s also known the ferries are a barrier.
Formosa asked if Salisbury had learned anything that would assist putting on a forceful campaign to attract more seniors to Powell River.
“I would be interested to know if your research could help us devise a campaign to attract seniors to come and live among us in this beautiful, safe, west coast sunset community,” he asked.
Salisbury said there are several components of her research that would be useful in helping attract seniors to Powell River if that was the wish of the community.
