Older People's Views of Participating in an Intergenerational Café With Student Nurses

Global ageing is increasing. Most older people live independently but at times require nursing care as they age. This care is provided in a variety of settings including acute, primary, community and residential care services. In such instances, it is important that older people feel comfortable and listened to, and it is imperative that student nurses are educated to competently care for and nurse older people in collaborative partnerships. Intergenerational initiatives promote shared learning and help break down barriers among different age cohorts. An online intergenerational café was developed to provide a learning opportunity for older people and student nurses to meet as equals and connect socially in a protected place and time. This paper reports on older people's views of their participation in an online intergenerational café. Ethical approval was granted for this survey design research. Older people living in the community (n = 49) participated in online intergenerational cafés with student nurses. Following the online café, participants were invited to voluntarily participate in the study through completion of an anonymous online survey. Consent was indicated through the return of the survey questionnaire. All agreed to complete the survey. Likert scale quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistical analysis (SPSS, version 21). Responses to the open-ended questions were thematically analysed. The cafés supported intergenerational learning, and participants felt comfortable participating. Participants discovered some but not all key points of interest about students. In many ways, they were quite similar to students. Participants felt students would be respectful, empathetic and advocate for them in a care situation. Many agreed that the cafés were well organised, but some would have liked more clarity on the discussion topics. This café initiative has merit as it helped reduce barriers and facilitated intergenerational learning. Participation in Intergenerational cafés can help reduce barriers by faciliating understanding and mutual respect . They can provide a forum for discussion on nursing care expectations.