Connecting Nursing Students and Older Adults

Background Aging populations have an increased need for health care services. Nursing students are often introduced to care of older adults through a clinical experience in a skilled nursing facility, which can negatively bias a student's attitudes toward this population. Purpose The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve the attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward older adults. Method Students (N = 104) completed a minimum of 5 visits with an independent community-dwelling older adult. Student attitudes toward older adults were measured before and after the experience using the Polizzi Refined Aging Semantic Differential Scale. Student and older adult participants responded to satisfaction surveys. Results Statistical and clinically significant improvements in student attitudes were noted after the service-learning intervention. Conclusions Nurse educators can impact the way nursing students view the older adult population by including intergenerational service-learning experiences in the curriculum.