Multipurpose senior centers: opportunities for community health nursing

Nationally, almost 10 million older Americans are served by approximately 12,000 multipurpose senior centers (MSCs). Among those over age 65, 15% attended an MSC in the previous year. We can expect that the number of older Americans attending MSCs will increase as our population ages. We conducted face-to-face interviews with 59 older adults at an MSC that provides programming to approximately 350 individuals aged 60 and older during the course of 1 year. We identified several areas in which senior center participants could benefit from the presence of community health nursing: loneliness and social support; diet and nutrition, oral health, and self-rated health and exercise. Community health nurses should play an integral role in MSCs by providing direct healthcare in the form of interventions and referrals and by providing preventative care and advice so that senior center participants may maintain and improve the prospects for their independence and quality of life.