Keeping older people connected and actively engaged with young children reduces social isolation and depression. As one of the experts in the television programme ‘Old People's Home for 4 year Olds’, Melrose Stewart and colleagues showed how it is possible to improve the lives of lonely older people through a mixture of intergenerational activities. Learning and having fun together was shown to bring mutual benefits across the age spectrum.

Melrose is a university lecturer and Chartered Physiotherapist specialising in health promotion. She sees intergenerational activities as a revolutionary way to maintain the inclusion of older people within communities and promote healthy ageing. Melrose combines her roles as Chartered Physiotherapist, lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Vice President of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy to help people develop healthier lifestyles. She recognises that physical activity and mental health are intricately bound and is a strong advocate of finding evidence to explore the impact of exercise on both. Her PhD thesis in cultural competence investigated how learners can begin to understand and develop competencies when working with diverse groups.

Melrose has a keen interest in inclusion and equity in healthcare. She’s one of the three experts in the successful Old People’s Home for 4 year Olds, screened in 2017 by Channel 4. The programme demonstrated how depression in older people living in a residential home can be dramatically alleviated by the introduction of inter-generational activity with four-year-olds. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx