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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Aging; Ageism
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Regular course training only; Other: Intergroup contact training

Detailed Description

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 126
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Zhejiang
    • Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, 313000
      • School of Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intergroup contact training + Regular course training; In addition to the regular curriculum, the experimental group of nursing students were required to receive the intervention program developed by this study.	Other: Intergroup contact training; The intervention program uses direct contact and four types of indirect contact as the intervention strategy and general framework, and is divided into three main steps, assessing and reflecting on aging stereotypes, carrying out indirect and direct contact, and evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention. The time period is 12 weeks, with the interventionists comprising the researcher and nursing students. The forms of the intervention include holding mini-lectures, organizing participation in voluntary activities, and nostalgia interviews.
Active Comparator: Regular course training only; Nursing undergraduates in the control group received regular course teaching and practical activities, including geriatric nursing, daily courses and community activities.	Other: Regular course training only; The specific process is to sign in the classroom, review the knowledge of the previous class by asking questions, introduce the content of the new class, the teacher explains the knowledge points according to the teaching objectives and teaching content, and finally assigns the post-class homework of the course content. At the end of the experiment, the control group was given compensatory intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The implicit effect value (D)	The implicit effect value were measured by the Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC- IAT), a time-limited word categorization task, using the E-Prime procedure. The SC-IAT program consists of four blocks: Blocks I and III are practice blocks, while Blocks II and IV are formal tests. The data analyzed were derived from Blocks II and IV. Blocks I and II feature incompatible tasks with positive words for the elderly on the left and negative words on the right. Blocks III and IV are compatible tasks, with positive words on the right and elderly concept words and negative words on the left. The implicit effect value (D) was calculated by subtracting the mean reaction time of the compatible task from that of the incompatible task, then dividing by the standard deviation of correct reaction times. A D value of 0 indicates a neutral implicit aging stereotype, while a value less than 0 suggests a negtive stereotype.	Baseline and Month 3

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Geriatric Nursing Willingness Scale	The Geriatric Nursing Willingness Scale was used to measure the intention to engage in geriatric nursing. The scale consists of 21 entries divided into four main sections: behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions. It was scored on a 5-point Likert scale, with positive entries scoring 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 in that order, and the reverse for negative entries. The Cronbach' α coefficient in this study was 0.787.	Baseline and Month 3
Intergroup Anxiety Scale (IAS)	The Intergroup Anxiety Scale was used to measure intergroup anxiety. The scale was developed by Stephan and consists of 10 entries on a 7-point Likert scale. Entries 5 to 7 are reverse scored, with lower scores indicating higher levels of intergroup anxiety. The scale is widely applied internationally, with a Cronbach' α coefficient of 0.808 in this study.	Baseline and Month 3

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Huzhou University
• Investigators: Study Chair: Meijuan Cao, Huzhou University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): July 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 27, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 23, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): September 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 15, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 9, 2024
• Last Verified: October 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Stereotypic Movement Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2022025.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No