Frailty vs. Wise as Thematic Verbatim Perceptions of Aging from College Students Enrolled in a Health and Aging Course

Abstract

The older adult population is rapidly growing expecting to reach nearly 95 million by 2060. Consequently, there is a growing need for young adults preparing to enter the workforce to have accurate perceptions of the aging process. The purpose of this study was to examine students' verbatim descriptors of someone over 65 years of age and how they change after completing an undergraduate health and aging course. 132 junior-level Health Behavior Science undergraduate students completed a pre-course and post-course questionnaire that assessed aging knowledge and perceptions. A thematic analysis was conducted to examine students' descriptors of individuals 65+ pre-and post-course. An evaluation of the qualitative responses indicated that the undergraduate students' perceptions of older adults and aging changed from their pre-course to post course responses. Positive personality trait descriptors increased from 160 (11.5%) initially to 268 (31.8%) following course completion. Conversely, negative traits of being sedentary/inactive (pre (4.6%) to post (0.5%)), being slow (pre (4.8%) to post (2.5%)), having health problems (pre (9.7%) to post (4.5%)), and being fragile (pre (7.5%) to post (5.3%)) all decreased. Independent samples paired t test showed a significant increase (p < 0.0001) in aging knowledge scores from pre to post course. In year one, the scores increased from 64.45 (+12.63) to 78.66 (+12.67) and in year two the scores increased from 69.41 (+13.12) to 80.75 (+11.07). Overall, this study demonstrated that an undergraduate health and aging course with a service-learning component greatly impacted undergraduate students' perceptions of older adults and the aging process to be more positive.