The Impact of Interacting with Older Adults with Dementia: Effecting Change in the Beliefs and Values of the Senior Nursing Students

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Forces are converging to create a perfect storm with regard to nursing care for the elderly, including those with Dementia. Forces include (a) an exponential growth of the population over 65, (b) a corresponding increase in persons who will be diagnosed with Dementia; (c) a shortage of Registered Nurses; (d) increasing numbers of unpaid, adult family caregivers who need caregiving relief; and (e) stigma toward the elderly that deters new graduates from choosing to work with them. The authors will first describe a collaboration between a non-profit respite program for individuals with early to mid- stage dementia in southeast, rural Georgia and a baccalaureate Community Health Nursing course. This model could be replicated in other settings and the audience will be encouraged to do so. Programming during the academic year is provided by senior Georgia Southern University – Statesboro campus student nurses under faculty supervision. The significance of this clinical is that it provides an opportunity to increase knowledge about the elderly with dementia and influence student attitudes toward caring for the elderly. Three semesters of student reflections about the value of the community clinical experience indicated changes in knowledge and more positive attitudes toward the elderly. These were graded assignments and thus susceptible to social desirability, i.e., “tell the professor what you think they want to hear so you get a good grade effect”. Therefore, the authors elected to pilot a 30-item, 5-point Likert scale survey instrument to measure student beliefs and values toward the elderly with dementia. The instrument was piloted, analyzed, revised, and administered again. The results of the pilot and subsequent revised instrument will be reported