an aging simulation game’s impact on the attitudes of nursing students

Background & aim: the aging of the population poses new challenges, among others, a greater concern with the teaching of geriatrics and gerontology, especially to future health professionals. the simulation game aging nursing game ® was used with the objective of evaluating the impact of an aging simulation game on nursing students' attitudes towards the elderly. methods & materials: a pre-test and post-test type quasi-experimental study was performed, without control group. the research was developed between february and july 2018. the subjects of this study were second-year undergraduate nursing students. a game was used as an intervention. to measure the effectiveness of the game, a questionnaire was applied before and after the intervention. the data collection instrument consisted of a questionnaire composed of two parts, the first part for sociodemographic characterization, and another consisting of the portuguese version of the kogan scale (kaop). results: the sample consisted of 45 undergraduate nursing students from the 2nd year corresponding to 75% of the population. the attitude towards the elderly person improved significantly before and after the intervention. of the 34 items on the kogan scale (kaop), 21 improved significantly. conclusion: the simulation game has proven to be effective in teaching students changing attitudes towards the elderly (p <0.05).