Gerontology course in the nursing undergraduate curricula.

Abstract

To explores nursing faculty members' attitudes towards older people, their thoughts about gerontological nursing education. Five focus groups and a survey were used with nursing faculty members 132 at the three nursing schools to explore their attitudes towards the care of older people and the perceived status of gerontological nursing education. The survey was given to 132 faculty members, including 76 clinical instructors, 40 associate professors and 16 professors. The nursing faculty in general had a positive attitude toward older people (M=3.36, SD 0.25), and teachers' attitudes were higher than those of their nursing students (M=3.18, SD0.29). This study results suggests that Saudi nursing curricula should include more extensive gerontology content and clinical experience with older people. This is the first time in Saudi Arabia that research has listened to their voices and examined their commitments toward gerontology education.