title: Addressing future demands: Development of an online gerontological nursing course.
abstract: Nursing students often hold negative views of and do not want to work with older people. Innovative approaches to engage nursing students in geriatric content hold the potential to improve attitudes, a crucial step in meeting the aging population's healthcare needs. This article describes the process of developing, implementing and evaluating an online, undergraduate nursing gerontology course. Development was based on Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory. Student reflections collected from approximately 200 individuals over two semesters about knowledge gained and the effect on attitudes about aging and older adults are summarized.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 77006, USA. Electronic address: mastel-smith@uttyler.edu.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mastel-Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 77006, USA.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Tyler, 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 77006, USA.
authors.forename: Kleanthe
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Caruso
mesh_terms: D002321:Career Choice; D003479:Curriculum; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000379:methods*; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends*; D017145:Models, Educational; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Gerontology; Nursing education; Online learning