Reminiscing is a therapeutic nursing intervention for older adults. Nursing students and elders who participated in reminiscing interviews were excited by this activity. Researchers across disciplines collaborated in this qualitative research project to clarify the meaning and experience of reminiscing for the student and the diverse elder. Following the student-elder interview, researchers conducted unstructured interviews with a purposive sample of students and elder participants. Four patterns emerged: discovery of the value of intergenerational interaction and relationships; rejection of stereotypes; a willingness to overcome painful aspects of reminiscence; and gerotranscendence wisdom and peace. These findings have implications for nursing education, nursing practice, and further research.Nursing students have multiple opportunities to engage in dialogue with frail, hospitalized elders about health concerns. However, students have fewer opportunities to engage in meaningful conversation with elders who are not acutely ill. Lookinland and Anson (1995) proposed that nursing students' ability to interact with older adults who were still well and contributing to society would have a favorable effect on their attitudes. Similarly Schneiderman, Jordan-Marsh, and Bates-Jensen (1998) found that the majority of nursing students felt that experiences working with well elders positively influenced their attitudes toward gerontology. In their review of the literature on attitudes of student nurses, Happell and Brooker (2001) report that a paradigm has been created in our society where gerontology is viewed by student nurses as ' 'unchallenging, custodial, and unrewarding'' (Happell & Brooker, 2001, p. 13). To influence a shift in this paradigm, we must find ways to alter our nursing students' opinions of elder care.To engage baccalaureate-nursing students in meaningful conversation with the elderly, students in a didactic gerontology-nursing course were assigned to an elder for an interview that facilitated reminiscing about past life events. All students enrolled in the gerontology-nursing course were required to participate in an interview with an elder. During this one-on-one interview, elder volunteers were asked by students to share a story about their childhood or school days. Elder volunteers were solicited from a university on-campus collegial association for retirees and residents in a continuing care retirement facility. Stories about wartime experiences, family, love and loss abounded. Following the interview, students wrote a short reflective paper
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.