Using Assisted Living Communities to Enhance Nursing Student Attitudes Toward Older Adults

Purpose: The older adult population continues to increase, resulting in greater use of health care resources. Nurses will be at the forefront of providing competent care to this population, but many nurses do not wish to work with the aged population after graduation. The current study sought to explore whether the addition of a clinical shift at an assisted living community promoted positive attitudes by nursing students toward older adults and exposed them to healthy aging.
Methods: Students (N = 70) in a required undergraduate course at a large university in the West received clinical experience at local assisted living communities in which they independently interviewed a resident and provided an educational session to residents.
Results: Students, communities, and clinical instructors had a positive experience in this clinical, finding it rewarding and meaningful and a mechanism for observing healthy aging.
Conclusion: The incorporation of a clinical experience at an assisted living facility into a stand-alone gerontology course created a positive shift in nursing student attitudes toward older adults, dispelled myths and stereotypes, and was reported to be a meaningful experience.