Exploring French Canadian high school students' interest in and perspectives of a career with older adults.

Publisher: Hindawi in collaboration with John Wiley & Sons, Inc Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9306359 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1365-2524 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09660410 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Health Soc Care Community Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: [London] : Hindawi in collaboration with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Original Publication: Oxford : Blackwell Scientific Publications, c1993-

Career Choice* ; Curriculum*; Aged ; Canada ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Students

For the next 30 years, population aging will impact many facets of our society. Of specific concern is future human resources in the aging sector and related health fields. Every year, high school students make decisions related to their future careers, but few express interests in a career in aging. The goal of this study was to explore high school students' interest in and perspectives of a career in the field of aging. The specific objectives of the study were to identify high school students' perspectives of older adults, explore their level of interest in an aging-related career and understand the reasons for their level of interest for a career in aging. In this qualitative descriptive study, 41 French-speaking students in Grades 10 and 11 from an eastern Canadian province participated in a total of five focus group discussions where an educational video complemented the semi-structured interviews. Content analysis produced four common themes: perspectives of aging and older adults, exposure to aging in school, reasons for disinterest and increasing awareness and interest. Results indicate a lack of aging content or intergenerational activities in schools, whereas students made suggestions for better integration of aging content in the school curriculum. Future research with school guidance counsellors or educators would be beneficial in understanding aging content integration and student exposure to aging. Study limitations are also presented.
(© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Albion, M., & Fogarty, G. (2002). Factors influencing career decision making in adolescents and adults. Journal of Career Assessment, 10(1), 91-126. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072702010001006.
Augustin, F., & Freshman, B. (2016). The effects of service-learning on college students’ attitudes toward older adults. Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 37(2), 123-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2015.1079705.
Blais, S., McCleary, L., Garcia, L., & Robitaille, A. (2017). Examining the benefits of intergenerational volunteering in long-term care: A review of the literature. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 15(3), 258-272. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2017.1330056.
Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2020). Pandemic experience in the long-term care sector: How does Canada compare with other countries. https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/covid-19-rapid-response-long-term-care-snapshot-en.pdf.
Cybulski, M., Krajewska-Kulak, E., & Jamiolkowski, J. (2015). Perception of the elderly by junior high school students and university students in Poland. Progress in Health Sciences, 5(2), 93-98.
Dupuis-Blanchard, S., Gould, O., Gibbons, C., Simard, M., Éthier, S., & Villalon, L. (2015). Strategies for aging in place: The experience of language-minority seniors with loss of independence. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, Open Access, 2, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393614565187.
Dupuis-Blanchard, S., & Thériault, D. (2016). Portrait de la relève en matière de ressources humaines pour l’offre de service en français à la population vieillissante du Nouveau-Brunswick. https://carrieresante.ca/images/publications/RapportFRFINAL2.pdf.
Government of New Brunswick. (2017). We are all in this together: An aging strategy for New Brunswick. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/sd-ds/pdf/Seniors/AnAgingStrategyForNB.pdf.
Government of New Brunswick. (2019). Nursing resource strategy for New Brunswick. https://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/nursing/nursing_resource_strategy.pdf.
Government of New Brunswick. (2021). Curriculum development (Francophone sector). https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/fr/ministeres/education/m12/content/secteur_francophone/services_pedagogiques.html#5.
Government of Ontario. (2020). Long-term care staffing study. https://www.ontario.ca/page/long-term-care-staffing-study.
Gross, P. E., & Eshbaugh, E. M. (2011). Tuning them in versus turning them on: How do we interest students in working with older adults? Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 32(2), 122-134. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2011.572037.
Gutheil, I. A., Chernesky, R. H., & Sherratt, M. L. (2006). Influencing student attitudes toward older adults: Results of a service-learning collaboration. Educational Gerontology, 32, 771-784. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601270600835470.
Krout, J. A., & Wasyliw, Z. (2002). Infusing gerontology into grades 7-12 social studies curricula. The Gerontologist, 42(3), 387-391. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.3.387.
Lambert, V., & Lambert, C. (2012). Qualitative descriptive research: An acceptable design. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 16(4), 255-256. https://he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/PRIJNR/article/view/5805.
Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. NewburyPark, CA: Sage.
Lucchino, R., Lane, W., & Ferguson, K. D. (1997). Aging content in elementary and secondary school curriculum. Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 18(2), 37-49. https://doi.org/10.1300/J021v18n02_03.
Lun, M. W. (2012). Students’ knowledge of aging and career preferences. Educational Gerontology, 38(1), 70-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2010.500584.
Lun, M. W. (2019). Making connections: Students’ reflection on aging competency approach in gerontology education. Educational Gerontology, 45(7), 444-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2019.1656863.
McGilton, K., Boscart, V., Brown, M., & Bowers, B. (2014). Making tradeoffs between the reasons to leave and reasons to stay employed in long-term care homes: Perspectives of licensed nursing staff. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51, 917-926. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2013.10.015.
Morse, J., & Field, P. A. (1995). Qualitative research methods for health professionals. Sage Publications.
Novak, M., & Campbell, L. (2017). Aging and society: A Canadian perspective (8th edn). Nelson College Indigenous.
Robert, R., & Mosher-Ashley, P. M. (2000). Factors influencing college students to choose careers working with elderly persons. Educational Gerontology, 26(8), 725-736. https://doi.org/10.1080/036012700300001386.
Saillant, R. (2014). Over the cliff? Acting now to avoid New Brunswick’s bankruptcy. Canadian Institute for Research on Public Policy and Public Administration.
Sandelowski, M. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing & Health, 23(4), 334-340. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-240X(200008)23:4%3C334:AID-NUR9%3E3.0.CO;2-G.
Scott-Findlay, S., Estabrooks, C. A., Cohn, D., & Pollock, C. (2002). Nursing human resource planning in Alberta: What went wrong? Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, 3(4), 348-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527154022374.
Sowbel, L. R., & Ernst, J. S. (2005). Mandatory interviews with older adults as an undergraduate social work education strategy integrating generalist practice skills and exposure to older adults. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 11(1), 82-94. https://doi.org/10.18084/1084-7219.11.sp1.82.
Statistics Canada. (2019). Population by age and sex. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190930/dq190930a-eng.htm?HPA=1&indid=4236-2&indgeo=0.
Thériault, D., & Dupuis-Blanchard, S. (2017). Maintien à domicile : Capacité d’offre de services communautaires actuels et futurs au Nouveau-Brunswick. Services Social, 63(2), 143-159. https://doi.org/10.7202/1046505ar.
Thorne, S. (2016). Interpretive description: Qualitative research for applied practice. Routledge.
Thorne, S., Reimer Kirkman, S., & MacDonald-Emes, J. (1998). Interpretive description: A noncategorical qualitative alternative for developing nursing knowledge. Research in Nursing & Health, 20(2), 169-177. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1098-240X(199704)20:2%3C169:AID-NUR9%3E3.0.CO;2-I.
New Brunswick Nurses Union. (2020). The forgotten generation: An urgent call for reform in New Brunswick’s long-term care sector. https://theforgottengeneration.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/The-Forgotten-Generation-E.pdf.
United Nations. (2019). World population ageing 2019: Highlights. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WorldPopulationAgeing2019-Highlights.pdf.
World Health Organization. (2020). Priorities for a decade of action on healthy aging. https://www.who.int/ageing/10-priorities/en/.

Keywords: aging; career; high school students; human resources; intergenerational; older adults; perspectives

Date Created: 20210714 Date Completed: 20220608 Latest Revision: 20220813

20221213

10.1111/hsc.13514

34258802