Abstract:

Background:
A baccalaureate degree in gerontology programme was introduced in 2012 to address population ageing and the associated workforce shortage in health and social care services for older persons in Hong Kong. A reflective approach was adopted to make use of graduates’ feedback and evaluations to ensure that the teaching and learning strategies, curriculum design, contents, and learning/ assessment activities are tailored to the needs of students, aged care profession, and the society.

Aim:
To evaluate the effectiveness and quality of the programme.

Methods and results:
Sixteen graduates were invited to share their comments on the achievement of programme learning objectives upon graduation, and provide feedback on the learning resources and facilities, the arrangement of course contents, and areas for improvement. Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit students from the high, middle and low accumulated Grade Point Average of the graduation cohorts. Semi-structured interviews by a facilitator were conducted. The interviews were voice recorded and the contents were transcribed. Thematic analysis was performed to identify themes of the interview data.
The interviewees commented that the programme was able to achieve the set learning outcomes, particularly in providing them with a strong foundation in gerontological knowledge and skills, the essentials in providing evidence-based innovative services for older persons, addressing contemporary needs of older persons/ aged care services, and developing students’ intellectual capabilities. The knowledge and skills learned in the programme had enhanced their competitiveness in the workplace and their performance was highly recognised by the employers. They expressed the needs to strengthen the programme contents related to supervision and management to better prepare them for supervisory and management roles in the workplace.

Discussion and conclusion:
Overall, this innovative programme has been successful in achieving its aim and learning outcomes. The approach in implementing the desired aim and learning outcomes has been effective.

Keywords:

Gerontology Education, Ageing Population, Curriculum Development.