CONTINUING EDUCATION NEEDS OF GERONTOLOGICAL NURSES (NURSE EDUCATION).
Contributors: University of Georgia.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 166
Subjects: Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Gerontology.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to investigate the continuing education needs of gerontological nurses in South Carolina, a state that has experienced a large increase in the elderly population in recent years. Demographic trends relative to the aging population are predicted to continue. Increasingly, well prepared nurses will be required to meet the diverse and often complex health care needs of older people.

Despite some improvement in gerontology education in recent years, knowledge gaps exist for many nurses who provide care for the elderly. Assessment of continuing education needs of nurses in gerontological practice has been neglected. A needs assessment of this specialized area of clinical practice was warranted to provide information that may enhance program planning of educational offerings for gerontological nurses.

This research investigated the self-expressed instructional needs of nurses from the perspective of personal needs, instructional needs of gerontological nurses in general, and nurse experts who rated the instructional needs of gerontological nurses in general. Participants rated the need for each instructional topic and identified their perceptions of the top priorities as well as additional topics perceived as instructional needs in gerontology. Mean ratings of instructional needs were compared, and results examined relative to the biographic variables age, gender, level of education, and years experience working with the elderly.

Null hypotheses #1, stated that no difference would exist between gerontological instructional needs (clinical, general, and administration) based on perceptions of personal needs, needs in general, and needs perceived by nurse experts. Hypothesis 1 was rejected for the following comparisons: personal perceptions and perceptions in general, fourteen items; expert and personal perceptions, seven items; expert perceptions and general perceptions, three items. With one exception, all of the instructional needs for which mean ratings were rejected were categorized as clinical instructional needs. The exception was a general instructional need for which a statistically significant difference was found between expert perceptions and general perceptions.

Null hypothesis 2, stating there would be no difference between perceptions of instructional needs and the biographic variables was not rejected for variables age, gender, or level of education, but was rejected for the variable total years experience working with the elderly for the following instructional needs. For groups with less than 10 years experience and groups with 10-19 years experience, ratings were statistically significant for two clinical needs and one general information need. For groups with less than 10 years experience and greater than 19 years experience, there was a statistically significant difference between mean ratings of one clinical instructional need and one general instructional need.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2210.

Thesis (ED.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, 1992.

School code: 0077.