Abstract:The 22 Questions for Ethical Wills(c) is a useful methodology to elicit meaningful discussions of values and life lessons in persons both young and old. This process offers an intriguing comparison between the similarities and differences of life views of persons at opposite ends of the age spectrum.
“…Students’ perception that older adults had valuable experiences they could learn from aligns with the research of Fusner and Staib (2004), who noted that such perceptions helped nursing students build relationships with the older adults that were meaningful and mutually beneficial from their shared experiences. Cohen‐Mansfield et al (2009) also discussed the value of older generations sharing wisdom: older adults provided life‐based reasoning from previous life experiences that may assist and guide younger generations. Future research should expand on the phenomenon of undergraduate nursing students’ desire for experiences in which older adults can impart generational wisdom.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Students' positive attitudes towards older adults translated into an overall satisfaction with caring and enjoyment of all people. The strong connection between experiences with grandparents and attitudes towards older adults highlights the importance of examining thoughts, feelings and attitudes prior to clinical experience with older adults.Students' perception that older adults had valuable experiences they could learn from aligns with the research ofFusner and Staib (2004), who noted that such perceptions helped nursing students build relationships with the older adults that were meaningful and mutually beneficial from their shared experiences Cohen-Mansfield et al (2009). also discussed the value of older generations sharing wisdom: older adults provided life-based reasoning from previous life experiences that may assist and guide younger generations.…”
Background
As the population of older adults is estimated to double by 2050, the growing demand for nurses to provide care to older adults will grow. Internationally, attitudes among nursing students towards caring for older adults range from negative to slightly positive.
Objective
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine undergraduate nursing students’ thoughts, feelings and perspectives towards older adults residing in nursing homes prior to their clinical experience.
Methods/Results
Students enrolled in a clinical component of a course within a baccalaureate nursing programme were prompted to write a one‐page reflection on their thoughts and feelings toward caring for older adults in a nursing home. Artefacts from 72 undergraduate students’ were examined, and data saturation was obtained at 20 cases. Utilizing a one‐time inquiry approach, we identified eight categories that emerged from the data: Range of emotions when anticipating clinical, building rewarding relationships with older adults, preparing for my nursing career, student pre‐existing attitudes, providing the best care possible, relationships with grandparents, experience(s) in nursing homes and older adults ‘have so much to teach us’. Two themes encompassed all the others: ‘[Older adults] have so much to teach us’ and ‘providing the best care possible’. A strong majority of students expressed enthusiasm for their upcoming clinical in a nursing home.
Conclusion
Students’ attitudes were significantly more positive than those in prior studies. The results offer essential insight for nursing faculty who teach and design clinical experiences for undergraduate nursing students in nursing home facilities. Faculty should take account of their students’ prior experiences, thoughts, and feelings to prepare them appropriately to care for older adults in their future nursing careers.
Implications for Practice
Increasing staffing and retention of staff in nursing homes facilities remains a priority for stakeholders in long‐term care of older adults. Nursing educators must continuously assess students’ knowledge and attitudes assists to identify knowledge gaps and misconceptions, which must be addressed to teach student nurses how to provide high‐quality, effective and culturally sensitive care to older adults. As students become more competent in caring for older adults, their desire to pursue a nursing career in gerontology care may increase. Early experiences of student nurses with older adults will prepare nursing students for their future career. Understanding students’ thoughts and feelings will assist faculty in tailoring clinical orientation, designing clinical experiences and post‐conference debriefings that address students’ concerns. This research contributes to the knowledge of perceptions of nursing students and will assist to design educational experiences. Nursing educators who understand nursing students’ attitudes toward caring for older persons can facilitate therapeutic interactions between nursing students an...
“…Students’ perception that older adults had valuable experiences they could learn from aligns with the research of Fusner and Staib (2004), who noted that such perceptions helped nursing students build relationships with the older adults that were meaningful and mutually beneficial from their shared experiences. Cohen‐Mansfield et al (2009) also discussed the value of older generations sharing wisdom: older adults provided life‐based reasoning from previous life experiences that may assist and guide younger generations. Future research should expand on the phenomenon of undergraduate nursing students’ desire for experiences in which older adults can impart generational wisdom.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Students' positive attitudes towards older adults translated into an overall satisfaction with caring and enjoyment of all people. The strong connection between experiences with grandparents and attitudes towards older adults highlights the importance of examining thoughts, feelings and attitudes prior to clinical experience with older adults.Students' perception that older adults had valuable experiences they could learn from aligns with the research ofFusner and Staib (2004), who noted that such perceptions helped nursing students build relationships with the older adults that were meaningful and mutually beneficial from their shared experiences Cohen-Mansfield et al (2009). also discussed the value of older generations sharing wisdom: older adults provided life-based reasoning from previous life experiences that may assist and guide younger generations.…”
Background
As the population of older adults is estimated to double by 2050, the growing demand for nurses to provide care to older adults will grow. Internationally, attitudes among nursing students towards caring for older adults range from negative to slightly positive.
Objective
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine undergraduate nursing students’ thoughts, feelings and perspectives towards older adults residing in nursing homes prior to their clinical experience.
Methods/Results
Students enrolled in a clinical component of a course within a baccalaureate nursing programme were prompted to write a one‐page reflection on their thoughts and feelings toward caring for older adults in a nursing home. Artefacts from 72 undergraduate students’ were examined, and data saturation was obtained at 20 cases. Utilizing a one‐time inquiry approach, we identified eight categories that emerged from the data: Range of emotions when anticipating clinical, building rewarding relationships with older adults, preparing for my nursing career, student pre‐existing attitudes, providing the best care possible, relationships with grandparents, experience(s) in nursing homes and older adults ‘have so much to teach us’. Two themes encompassed all the others: ‘[Older adults] have so much to teach us’ and ‘providing the best care possible’. A strong majority of students expressed enthusiasm for their upcoming clinical in a nursing home.
Conclusion
Students’ attitudes were significantly more positive than those in prior studies. The results offer essential insight for nursing faculty who teach and design clinical experiences for undergraduate nursing students in nursing home facilities. Faculty should take account of their students’ prior experiences, thoughts, and feelings to prepare them appropriately to care for older adults in their future nursing careers.
Implications for Practice
Increasing staffing and retention of staff in nursing homes facilities remains a priority for stakeholders in long‐term care of older adults. Nursing educators must continuously assess students’ knowledge and attitudes assists to identify knowledge gaps and misconceptions, which must be addressed to teach student nurses how to provide high‐quality, effective and culturally sensitive care to older adults. As students become more competent in caring for older adults, their desire to pursue a nursing career in gerontology care may increase. Early experiences of student nurses with older adults will prepare nursing students for their future career. Understanding students’ thoughts and feelings will assist faculty in tailoring clinical orientation, designing clinical experiences and post‐conference debriefings that address students’ concerns. This research contributes to the knowledge of perceptions of nursing students and will assist to design educational experiences. Nursing educators who understand nursing students’ attitudes toward caring for older persons can facilitate therapeutic interactions between nursing students an...
“…37,54 Some included several groups of informants. 4,9,12,22,28,38,53,54,60,81 Three studies focussed on nursing managers' perspectives on ethical values, dilemmas and decisions, 31,69,81 and two were about public and health care professionals' opinions about prioritization. 75,76 Studies on ethical issues from older patients' point of view concentrated on concepts such as autonomy, self-determination, informed consent, privacy, integrity, abuse of older people, dependence, decision making, and truth telling.…”
Section: Ethical Concepts and Contexts In Clinical Studies About Caring For Older Peoplementioning
The aim of this review was to analyse the empirical studies that focus on ethics in nursing care for older people, scoping the need and areas for further study. A search of the MEDLINE and CINAHL databases (earliest to August 2009) was conducted using the the keywords: ethic* and nursing or care or caring and elderly or aged or older. After a four-stage process, 71 empirical articles were included in the review, with informants ranging from elderly people to relatives, caregivers, managers and students in care settings. The review focuses on the concepts, contexts, methods and validity of these studies. Based on the analysis, the reviewed research seems to be fragmented and multifaceted, focussing on selected issues such as autonomy, self-determination and informed consent. No large research programs or research traditions were found so it was not possible to draw any conclusions about suitable methods, study designs or instruments of measurement for use in this research area.
“…Additional disciplines included religion/ministry (9.8%, n = 5), gerontology/long-term care (9.8%, n = 5), medicine (7.8%, n = 4), psychology/sociology (7.8%, n = 4), general public (7.8%, n = 4), nursing (5.8%, n = 3), and business (3.9%, n = 2). We identified six research publications (11.8%) related to ethical wills (Barnes et al, 1997; Gessert et al, 2004; Wynn and de Vries, 2005; Cohen-Mansfield et al, 2009; Williams et al, 2010; Grewe, 2017). Fig.…”
Objectives
Palliative care guidelines recommend an interdisciplinary approach to address patients’ awareness of mortality and need for end-of-life preparation. An ethical will is a nonlegal way to address mortality by communicating a lasting and intangible legacy of values to others. The aim of this scoping review is to clarify the operationalization of ethical wills across disciplines and map the purposes and outcomes of creating an ethical will.
Methods
We followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. We searched 14 databases in November 2019 and January 2021 without filtering publication date or type. Two reviewers independently screened 1,948 publications. We extracted frequently used terms describing content, audience, format, purpose, and outcomes identified in ethical will creation.
Results
Fifty-one publications met inclusion criteria. Six (11.7%) were research articles. Twenty-four (47.1%) were lay literature published within law, estate, and financial planning. Collectively, our included studies defined an ethical will as a nonlegal way to express values, beliefs, life lessons and experiences, wisdom, love, history, hope for the future, blessings, apology, or forgiveness using any format (e.g., text, audio, video) that is meant to be shared with family, friends, or community. The most common purposes were to be remembered, address mortality, clarify life's meaning, and communicate what matters most. Creation provided opportunity to learn about self, served as a gift to both writer and recipient, and fostered generativity and sense of symbolic immortality.
Significance of results
Our findings highlight interdisciplinary utilization and a lack of research of ethical wills. This review provides supportive evidence for ethical wills as a way for patients to address mortality, renew intergenerational connections, solidify self, and promote transcendence before their final days. Ethical wills have potential to be incorporated into interdisciplinary palliative care in the future to address psychological symptoms for patients anticipating the end of life.
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