Increasing attitudes and interest in caring for older adults in first year nursing students using innovative teaching and learning strategies

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if the course Healthy Aging had any impact on nursing students’ attitudes towards older adults and/or interest in their caring for older adults after the completion of nursing school.

Methods: A pretest-posttest design was used. A convenient sample of 54 first year baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in the course Healthy Aging at Memorial University School of Nursing, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada was recruited for in the study. On the first day of class 51 students consented to participate in the study. During the second and last classes of the course the Kogan’s (1961) Attitudes Towards Old People Scale (KOP) was administered to compare student attitudes towards older adults before and after completion of the course. Students were also asked pre and post course whether they would consider working with older adults after the completion of nursing school. Students’ perceptions of the innovative teaching strategies used in course delivery and how they contribute to knowledge, attitudes, and interest regarding older adults were also evaluated. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic information and obtain means and standard deviations on the KOP.

Results: Thirty-three students completed both the pre and post-tests. KOP scores were fairly high at both the beginning and at the end of the course. The students in the first year of nursing studies entered the course with a fairly positive attitude toward older adults. Of the 33 students, 19 students (57.5%) stated they would definitely consider working with older adults and 8 students (24.2%) stated that they might consider working with older adults, at the completion of nursing school. Only 2 students stated they would definitely not consider working with older adults after completion of nursing school. This was somewhat surprising in light of previous research in this area. Although there was no significant increase in KOP scores at the completion of the course, 27 (81.5%) students said that they would definitely work with older adults at the completion of nursing school. Qualitative data revealed that students had a greater interest in working with older adults at the end of the course than they did prior to taking the course. Results revealed that educational strategies were highly influential in this positive change of interest and provided evidence of the importance of making the content contextually relevant and interesting. Furthermore, a positive attitude by faculty and enthusiasm toward the older adult and toward gerontological nursing is equally important in providing a positive influence on students’ perceptions.

Conclusions: Participating in the Healthy Aging course increased students’ attitudes and interest in caring for older adults.