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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
08:47
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Learning to care for older adults in an associate degree nursing program: a discovery process
Isabelle White1, Ruth Davidhizar
1Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana, USA. whitei@bethelcollege.edu
Caring : National Association for Home Care Magazine
|June 7, 2006
Summary
Nursing students
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Nursing Education
Background:
- Traditional student interviews with unknown older adults yielded limited empathy.
- Student-selected known older adults fostered deeper personal connections and care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the impact of a modified interview assignment on nursing students' development of empathy and caring for older adults.
- To assess the transferability of learned caring behaviors to clinical settings.
Main Methods:
- Nursing students interviewed known older adults (e.g., relatives, neighbors).
- Qualitative analysis of student reflections on the interview experience and its impact on their perception of older adults.
Main Results:
- Interviews with known individuals transformed the experience into a meaningful "gift and legacy."
- Students developed a stronger sense of identification with older adults, recognizing their inherent worth.
- This enhanced empathy facilitated the transfer of caring to diverse older adult patient populations in clinical practice, including those with chronic and neurological conditions.
Conclusions:
- Interviewing known older adults is a powerful teaching strategy to cultivate genuine caring in nursing students.
- This approach effectively bridges the gap between academic learning and compassionate clinical practice for geriatric care.
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