Youth-Elder Co-Learning Model in Psychiatric Long-Term Care Education: Mixed Methods Evaluation of Communication and Empathy Outcomes

BACKGROUND Taiwan is projected to become a “super-aged” society by 2025, leading to an increasing demand for community psychiatric long-term care (LTC). This demographic shift necessitates frontline professionals equipped with specialized communication skills and deep empathy. However, traditional didactic teaching often fails to adequately prepare students for the complex emotional and practical challenges of real-world psychiatric caregiving. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the innovative youth-elder co-learning instructional model, which uniquely integrates micro-movie discussions and an intergenerational empathy board game, on adult learners’ professional knowledge, communication competence, empathic development, and overall learning satisfaction. METHODS A mixed methods, single-group, pre-post design was used. The educational intervention was implemented within an 18-week elective community psychiatric LTC course. Participants included 38 adult learners and continuing education students (aged 19-64 years). Notably, the majority of the cohort (n=29, 76.3%) had no prior practical experience in LTC. Quantitative data were collected using self-assessed and peer-evaluated scales for professional knowledge, communication competence, and empathy at pre-, mid-, and post-course time points, alongside an end-of-semester course student feedback survey. Qualitative data were systematically gathered through structured reflective journals and analyzed using a rigorous 6-phase thematic analysis framework. RESULTS Students reported high course satisfaction rates, ranging from 92.4% to 95.3%. Quantitative analysis revealed a notable divergence: there were significant improvements in peer-evaluated outcomes (P