Is continuing professional development different for older nurses? A literature review exploring 5 conceptualisations of age

The nursing workforce is aging. When people age changes occur in biological, psychological and social functioning. Little is known about the effects of these changes on nurses’ continuing professional development (CPD). A literature review was conducted to investigate if older and younger nurses’ CPD differs, in what respect and which age-related factors might explain these differences. Given the limited research among nurses, also studies among workers in general were included. Five operationalisations of age were used: chronological, functional, psychosocial, organizational and life span age. The review revealed 26 relevant studies, examining age differences in motivation for, participation in and learning outcomes of CPD. In general older workers seemed less likely to participate in CPD, especially when considering formal CPD activities and workers in late career (older than 50/55 years). No clear age patterns were found for motivation and learning outcomes. Results were equivocal due to conceptual diversity. Reviewing the factors that influenced age differences, it seemed that psychosocial and organizational age were negatively associated with motivation for and participation in CPD. The effect of functional age and life span age were less studied and therefore less clear. This paper gives input for further research in this field.