Undergraduate Students Research Healthy Aging

Recipients of de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging Undergraduate Nursing Research Scholarships gather for a group photo in the Center conference room. From left to right they are Elizabeth Merritt, Coralie Meslin, Mary Taylor and Melody James.

BSN student Alycia Rivera says her biggest surprise in doing research on aging is "how little is known about the aging process related to specific disease." Melody James, trained as a physical therapist, has been surprised to learn that patients with Alzheimer's Disease are more likely to comply with an exercise program when depression is present than are elders without Alzheimer's. And Elizabeth Merritt has been amazed to observe how quickly older patients "jump right into" her computer survey. During clinical rotations at University House, a retirement facility affiliated with the School of Nursing, "I have met more internet savvy 70 year-olds than I ever thought possible."

Along with fellow undergraduates Coralie Meslin and Mary Taylor, these students are doing research projects about healthy aging as part of a program to facilitate interest in older adult health. From studying irritable bowel syndrome in older adult women, to self-care barriers for elderly diabetics, to the way that aging adults are portrayed in the media, all of these students are making contributions to nursing science in ways that will positively affect the huge generation of "baby-boomers" who are now approaching "old age".

The students are recipients of de Tornyay Center on Healthy Aging Undergraduate Nursing Research Scholarships, a program started last year to support undergraduate students interested in research on healthy aging. The research process also serves to build close working relationships between undergraduates and research faculty at the School. All of the students are mentored by faculty experts in their chosen interest areas: Margaret Heitkemper, Rebecca Logsdon, Donna Berry, Rebecca Kang, and Carol Blainey. Dean Emeritus Rheba de Tornyay, after whom the Center was named in honor of her lifelong interest in aging, observed in a recent interview that only 1% of nurses are certified in geriatric nursing and that "nursing has come rather late to recognizing how important the care of aging is in our society." She expressed hope that, through the de Tornyay Center Undergraduate Nursing Research Scholarships, more students will become interested in this area of care.

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