Attitudes that are based on false information and stereotypes facilitate stigmatization of older people. For example, older people are viewed as childlike or nice grandparents and therefore workers tend to take a paternalistic stance with them that compromises assessment, treatment plans (as cited in Youdin, 2014). Many socially constructed optics produced by stigma can bias social worker’s views of older people (Youdin, 2014).Stigma occurs when individuals are devalued by society because of physical deformities, psychological problems, or medical illness. By identifying with the stigma propagandized in the public area, older adults will convert a stigmatizing concept into an internalized self-stigma. The discrimination occurs simply because a person is viewed as being old.
