Background

Despite older people being the largest demographic accessing health care, nurses often lack knowledge about how to work with them and may hold ageist perceptions towards them. Previous research has identified the gaps in their education program and offered suggestions on what and how to fill those gaps in education related to older people. E-learning activities to fill these gaps were developed.

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine if nursing students’ perceptions about older people could be improved through an e-learning activity focused on communication and understanding older people.

Methods

A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used to test whether the understanding and communication with older people e-learning activity improved student nurses’ perceptions about older people. A feedback survey was also analyzed using descriptive statistics to understand students’ perceptions of the learning activity.

Results

There was a statistically significant decrease in participant's negative perceptions towards older people after completing the e-learning activity. Participants enjoyed the activity and believed that it improved their knowledge of older people, their confidence in working with older people, and their perceptions about older people.

Conclusions

The strength of the e-learning activity in this study is that the educator need not be an expert in order to use the activity in their course. In this way, knowledge about older people is facilitated despite the dearth of nurse educators with gerontological expertise. More research to test this activity in other universities is needed.

Implications for Practice

Improved understanding and communicating with older people could improve person-centered-care. The flexible delivery of this learning activity could facilitate practicing nurses understanding and communication strategies if offered to them.