Taiwanese Nursing Students' Experiences of Service-Learning in Long-Term Care Facilities

Thursday, 15 July 2010: 10:30 AM

Shiue Chen, PhD, RN
Nursing, National Tainan Institute of Nursing, Tainan, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: 1)The learner will describe the communication guidelines about reminiscence.

Learning Objective 2: 2)The learner will describe the major themes that emerged were: (1) bridging the generational gap, (2) positive bonding, (3) intergenerational caring, (4) personal growth.

Background. The aged population, including elders in Taiwan, is growing worldwide. There is an increased need for nurses willing to care for elders; yet few student nurses have interest in elder care. Nursing faculty have the opportunity to promote student nurses’ interest in and attitudes about caring for elders following graduation. Service-learning is a way to promote positive results for nursing students.
Purpose of the Study: The study explored the experiences of Associate degree Taiwanese nursing students (n = 200) following a service-learning in long-term care facilities.
Methods. During a required long-term care course, Taiwanese fourth year Associate of Science nursing students were provided with communication guidelines, which is a discussion about reminiscence, to promote interactions with elders. Students spent six- weeks of clinical time to interact with elders and to provide caring to elders. The service-learning was one and half hours per week. Following the service-learning , a content analysis was performed on students’ responses to open-ended questions about the service-learning experience and student-elder interactions.
Results. Major themes that emerged were: (1) bridging the generational gap, (2) positive bonding, (3) intergenerational caring, (4) personal growth.
Conclusions. Students who are provided with a structured reminiscence approach to guide communication with elders for the service-learning become enthusiastic and excited about student-elder interaction and express interest in elder care.