During the training process, nurse students acquire knowledge, skills and competencies to work with different groups of patients. Working with elderly people has its difficulties and specificities. The acquisition of practical skills by students for planning and documenting individual health care for the elderly people is a process in which teachers and mentors have a leading role. Objectives: To identify the factors which make it difficult for nurse students to work with elderly people. Methods: The study involved 52 3rd year nurse students – from the Faculty of Medicine of Trakia University in Bulgaria. A questionnaire was used, including open-ended and closed-ended questions, allowing more than one answer. The data was processed mathematically and graphically. Results: The main difficulties for students in working with the elderly people are as follows: the process of communication (92.16%), difficult perception of new information (80.64%) and memory impairment in the elderly patient (61.44%); The main difficulties related to the organization of activity - insufficient experience in working with geriatric patients (92.16%); insufficient time for communication with patients (94.08%); lack of comfort in the patient's home (57.60%); a "Diary for tracking and self-monitoring of the condition" of an elderly person - it is very useful for 90.24% of students so that they can monitor the condition of the elderly person; It was found that 65.28% of students do not want to work with elderly people, as 46.09% of them indicate the motive for this as mental strain. Conclusion: The teacher and the mentor are leading figures in preparing students to work with elderly people. The practical preparation for planning and documenting individual health care for elderly people is very important in the training process of nurse students.

BACKGROUND: In the context of health education, the lifestyle of each individual includes social and behavioral factors that are potentially manageable and preventable in general. A health-educated person adheres to healthy lifestyle, which is characterized by the presence of: active attitude to his own health, positive health motivation, skills for health protection and strengthening, and useful health habits. Stimulating one of them is the systematic monitoring and registration of the main vital indicators, as a good prerequisite for active monitoring of the health condition. As of December 31, 2019 the population of Bulgaria is 6,951,482 people, and the people, aged 65 and over are 1,504,088, or 21.6% of the country’s population. AIM: The objective of this study was to establish the degree of personal commitment and responsibility for their health of people over 65-year-old, living in Bulgaria. Tasks: (a) To make a questionnaire, (b) Processing of the received information and analysis of results, (c) Formulation of conclusions regarding awareness, health motivation and lifestyle of the respondents, (d) Reporting the degree of responsibility for their health of the respondents. METHODS: Mathematical-statistical – dispersion, comparative analysis, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient/p/;desk research; interview. Contingent: 113 people; average age – approx. 68.168 ± 8.80 years. Time: 2019. RESULTS: (1) A statistically significant relationship was found: p = 0.001 and x2 = 21.886. The respondents with two chronic diseases – 40.5% are well aware of the normal values of the measured indicators. (2) Two thirds of the respondents/74.3%/are well informed about the normal and pathological values of the main vital indicators, which they can measure and register themselves. (3) 76% of the respondents have received the necessary health information from the medical team/partnership model. (4) Only half of the older respondents in the study/51.4%/follow a diet complied with their health status. CONCLUSION: In our professional medical care for the elderly people in Bulgaria, we must place emphasis on their preventive and prophylactic commitment to their own health. The useful and practical combination of properly received and internalized medical information from the elderly people is an important prerequisite for their informed commitment to their own health.

Bulgaria is the second-fastest aging nation in Eastern Europe and fifth in the world. Older people are the largest and ever-growing group of people in health care. The most common diseases in this age group are circulatory, endocrine, digestive, musculature, neoplasms, and respiratory systems. Some of the main reasons for these diseases include an unhealthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle, and obesity. One hundred twelve adult patients with chronic diseases were interviewed. The aim of the study is to establish the awareness of older people about overweight-related problems. In order to increase their knowledge and improve their quality of life and independence, we prepared a training program (Table4).

The activities of health promotion for the students in health care specialties is organized and managed by the teacher process. During the training communication skills are acquired. It is the time for preparing students for work in counseling and patient education, collecting and providing health information-promotive function in the process of care (1). We assumed that these opportunities could be used in our work with children deprived of parental care. We set a goal to explore experiences, attitudes and ideas about students' participation in health care in health promotion in the community of children and individuals. The study found that students are aware of the social importance of the knowledge acquired during the training and are convinced of the need to support adolescents to develop a responsible attitude towards their own health.