Assessing the educational and support needs of nursing staff serving older adults: a case study of a community coalition/university partnership.

Given the expected changes in demography and dependent care ratios, communities are preparing for the needs of older populations. Sometimes, communities form coalitions to address health-care needs. This case study evaluates a coalition/university partnership formed to assess the educational and support needs of nursing staff who are taking care of older adults across all service settings in one geographically defined community. A 17-member community-based coalition contracted with researchers from an external university to determine the perceptions of three key stakeholder groups: older adults and their families, all levels of nursing staff, and agency administrators. By applying principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR), this case study presents the challenges faced in the community-based coalition/university research team partnership. This coalition/research partnership is unique, differing from most academic examples of PAR because nursing professionals initiated the partnership.