Evaluating outcomes of Taiwan's first gerontology certification program

The elderly population will approach 20% within the next 20 years. This enhances the need for skilled and experienced health care providers. There is a critical need to strengthen gerontology curricula to prepare health-related professionals for a graying population. The purpose of this article is to investigate student satisfaction with the first National Project for Excellence in Gerontological Care Education (NPEGCE) in Taiwan. A cross-sectional design was used. A sample of 151 medical, nursing, and physical therapy students, who had enrolled in the NPEGCE and had taken at least one core course, completed a satisfaction questionnaire. To ensure content validity, a multidisciplinary, institutional committee of gerontology and geriatric faculty designed the content. Overall satisfaction scores varied between satisfied (4-points) and very satisfied (5-points). Medical students gave higher ratings than others. Two factors (Curriculum and Teaching) were extracted. A strong correlation was found between the subscales and overall satisfaction scores. Internal scale consistency reliability scores ranged from 0.92 to 0.96. Overall, this study demonstrates a moderate level of satisfaction with the NPEGCE. However, these results are from a single institution; they are not generalizable. This is also the first student satisfaction report from Taiwan. There are no similar programs or evaluation results to compare them with. Since the NPEGCE was well received by students and seemed to encourage a more nurturing attitude towards the elderly; it can be regarded as a catalyst for better elderly care in the future.