Abstract

Nearly 18% of the United States population will be at least 65 years or older by 2025. Studies suggest student nurses have a negative attitude toward working with this population. There is a need to increase the number of graduate nurses who have positive attitudes towards older adults and an interest in working with this population upon graduation. This pre- and post-test intervention study aimed to: 1) examine the effectiveness of two educational modalities, a case study and simulated role-playing scenarios, on improving attitudes and empathy towards older adults; 2) explore factors affecting attitudes and empathy in accelerated baccalaureate of science in nursing (ABSN) students towards older adults. A convenience sample of 45 ABSN students completed pre- and post-test questionnaires. The results showed role-playing simulation scenarios had no impact on improving attitudes and empathy towards older adults, however, within group, the case study intervention was found to improve students’ attitudes. No significant predictor was found for attitudes; one significant predictor was found for empathy. Empathy is highly correlated with attitude. Further study is needed to explore educational modalities that improve attitudes and empathy in the ABSN student population.

Date of publication

Summer 7-25-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/1181

Committee members

Shih-Yu Sylvia Lee, PhD, RN; Jenifer Chilton, PhD, RN; Jeanne Ruggiero, PhD, RN, CNE

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

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