When I’m 64: Effects of an interdisciplinary gerontology course on first-year undergraduates’ perceptions of aging

Abstract

One challenge for gerontology is getting more students interested in aging at an earlier point in their academic career. This study evaluated the impact of an interdisciplinary course on aging designed for first-year undergraduate students. The course aimed to expand students’ appreciation of the personal and professional relevance of aging issues, with the goal of expanding their aging-related curricular and career interests. Main outcome variables of the study included knowledge of older adults and aging, attitudes toward older adults, and anxiety about personal aging. Participants included an intervention group enrolled in the course and a control group not enrolled in the course. Compared to baseline, at the end of the semester students in the class had more knowledge about aging and more positive explicit attitudes toward older adults, but their implicit attitudes toward older adults and anxiety about aging did not change. Control students showed no changes. These findings suggest that objective knowledge of aging and explicit attitudes improve with curricular intervention, but implicit attitudes and anxiety might be more difficult to change. Gerontology education is a complex undertaking whose diverse goals must be clearly articulated in order to guide curricular interventions and incite curiosity among young undergraduate students.

The big shortage: Geropsychologists discuss facilitators and barriers to working in the field of aging.

“…For instance, it might be beneficial to introduce high school students to the field of aging by encouraging them to participate in community-based extracurricular programs that will allow them to work closely with older adults and aging professionals, or to partner with psychologists at local colleges or universities in aging-related science. At the college or university level, it is important to emphasize aging issues in specialized courses (Merz, Stark, Morrow-Howell, & Carpenter, 2016), but also to infuse that content within general courses in the curriculum (Lee & Waites, 2006). …”

Implicit attitudes toward the elderly among health professionals and undergraduate students in the health field: a systematic review

“…A total of 670 individuals were analyzed in the seven studies included in this review. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Sample sizes in the individual studies ranged from 26 23 to 300 25 participants.…”

“…A total of 438 participants were female. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] The study conducted by Merz et al 28 presented the lowest mean age among participants (mean = 18.0 years; SD = 0.46), and the study by Nash et al 26 showed the highest mean age (mean = 35.1 years; SD = 7.4).…”

“…[22][23][24][25]28 Nash et al 26 performed their studies at both a university and a hospital, and Ruiz et al 27 Figure 1 -Flowchart following recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement 21 and Australia) [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] ; four were conducted in the United States. 22,23,27,28 Regarding study design, three were crosssectional, 24,26,27 three experimental 22,23,25 and one was a case-control study. 28 The studies involved professionals and students from the following fields: nursing, 26 gerontology, 28 medicine 27 and psychology.…”

“…22,23,27,28 Regarding study design, three were crosssectional, 24,26,27 three experimental 22,23,25 and one was a case-control study. 28 The studies involved professionals and students from the following fields: nursing, 26 gerontology, 28 medicine 27 and psychology. 22,23,25 Five of the studies restricted participation to students, [22][23][24][25]28 and two included both health professionals and students.…”