Senior Mentor Project New York University Lessons Learned/Advice to Schools Participating in structured focus groups with healthy community-dwelling older adults gives students excellent experiential opportunities to learn about aging. Well older adults address ageism issues better than traditional teaching modalities. Student process recordings, which allow for reflection and synthesis of the older adult-student encounter, reinforce and foster enduring positive impressions of health and independence among the aging population. Student fears and misconceptions about aging dissipate as they interact with independent, well older adults. Students engaging in senior mentor focus groups are able to engage in challenging discussions regarding death and dying or sexuality, subjects that are otherwise difficult to explore in traditional health care settings like hospitals. Through students' interactions with well older adult senior mentors, they learn about the impact of the nurse's role in prevention and restorative geriatric health care. Well older adult senior mentors teach students health behavior strategies essential for successful aging. Project Main Page | Grant Innovations Page | AACN Home Copyright © 2004 by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. All rights reserved.