Intergroup Contact Intervention for Nursing Undergraduates to Improve Aging Stereotype

Effects of Intergroup Contact Training on Aging Stereotypes in Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aimed to investigate the effects of intergroup contact training on the levels of aging stereotypes, intergroup anxiety, and willingness to engage in geriatric nursing work among undergraduate nursing students.

This research was designed as a pre-test-post-test randomized controlled experimental study. Nursing students from a university in Hangzhou, China served as the research subjects, who were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The control group received training in the regular course and was given compensatory intervention after the experiment, while the experimental group received intergroup contact training (the regular course combined with intergroup contact content). Such training was carried out in the forms of both individual and group interventions for a duration of 12 weeks. The levels of aging stereotypes, intergroup anxiety, and the willingness to engage in geriatric nursing among the nursing students were investigated before and after the training. Number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Shapiro-Wilk, T-test, Wilcoxon signed ranks tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to analyze the data.

Inclusion Criteria:

• full-time undergraduate students enrolled in the nursing program
• not yet enrolled in a geriatric nursing course
• agreed to participate in this study and signed an informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

• students in the nursing program pursuing a bachelor degree through a vocational-to-degree pathway
• Students who have taken a break from their studies