Aging through their eyes: college students’ attitudes toward older adults before and after nursing home observations

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to investigate the impacts of self-arranged nursing home observation sessions on healthcare students’ attitudes toward older adults. Sixty-seven undergraduate students enrolled in a gerontology course were required to complete an attitudes survey at the beginning and the end of the semester. In addition, they conducted 3 sessions of self-arranged nursing home observation and wrote pre- and post-observation journals. The quantitative attitudinal changes were measured by the Scale of Attitudes toward People with Dementia. For the analysis of the reflective journals, a thematic analysis approach was employed. The paired t-test showed a significant attitudinal change toward older adults among students. The thematic analysis also revealed that students showed improved understanding about older adults, a greater sense of kinship toward older adults, and increased motivation to work with older clients as future healthcare professionals. Nursing home observation may be beneficial to promote positive attitudes toward older adults among healthcare students.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this study.