Data collection

We conducted observations of the intergenerational sessions between November 2019 to February 2020, and completed the interviews with the nursery school staff during April and May 2020. We received ethical approval from the University of Chichester prior to commencing the research. Parents gave written consent for the children’s participation and verbal consent was also gained from the children. Nursery school practitioners, care home activity leaders and the older adults [or those with a legal responsibility] also gave written consent. To protect the identity of those who took part, pseudonyms have been used and the names of settings have been anonymised.

Participants included six children, eight older adults, three nursery school practitioners, and two care home activity leaders. We planned to observe eight intergenerational sessions (one a month) starting in November 2019. However, as a result of the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 and the closure of the care home to outside visitors, it was only possible to complete four of our planned observations. Observations were naturalistic, in that they were undertaken during the intergenerational sessions (Mukherji & Albon, 2015). Each observation was 30 minutes in length (the duration of the session). We were aware that our presence as researchers may have influenced the behaviour of our participants during the sessions. To minimise this, we presented ourselves as “observers as participants”, joining in with the intergenerational activities when invited and taking minimal notes during the sessions (Johnson & Christensen, 2012). The children’s attendance at the observed sessions was regular, with most attending all four sessions. The older adult’s attendance was less consistent and ranged from 5 to 8 adults at each session.

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with each of the three nursery school practitioners who accompanied the children on their visits. Typical of this type of interview we had a set list of questions with the opportunity to ask further questions as appropriate (Braun & Clarke, 2013). The interviews were conducted online and ranged between 34 and 58 min. These were digitally recorded and later fully transcribed. Further interviews were scheduled with the two activity leaders from the care home, however, due to the pressure caused by the pandemic they chose not to complete these. To supplement the notes, we took during the observations we also made additional notes after the sessions, which we refer to as observational field notes. We met together briefly after each observation to discuss our immediate thoughts about the session, these are referred to as reflective discussions and were also digitally recorded.