Teleconferencing: An Avenue for College Coursework in Nursing Home Settings

Abstract

With increasing numbers of elderly individuals facing nursing home living, interest in programs addressing the experienced quality of life in these residences has increased. Educational programs have been identified as one way to improve the experience of nursing home life. Concurrently, technology has developed rapidly and provides new avenues for service delivery. This article describes the use of a growing technology, teleconferencing, to provide a college course to elderly nursing home residents. Students' responses to the course are presented using five individual illustrations, and implications for programs and research are discussed. Preliminary findings are reported and related to three areas: the potential effectiveness of courses offered via teleconferencing to nursing home residents, the importance of nursing home programs which foster residents' sense of self, and a type of research information which appears fruitful for future work in this area.