Attitudes of Nurses, and Student Nurses Towards Working with Older People and to Gerontological Nursing as a Career in Germany, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Japan and the United States

Abstract

Aim: To describe attitudes towards caring for older people among nurses and student nurses in six participating countries. Background: Working with older people has historically had a negative profile and with a global rise in the numbers of older people and a global shortage of nurses, it is essential to recruit nurses into this area. This study gathered data from six countries to explore nurses and student nurses attitudes to nursing older people and to gerontological nursing as a career. Method: A convenience sample of 1064 nursing students and 2585 nurses in six countries answered the Multifactorial Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ) designed to elicit attitudes towards caring for older people and to the esteem that comes with working in this field. The MAQ consists of seven positive and 13 negative statements and uses a Likert scale. A higher total score indicates a more positive attitude. Results: Differences in attitudes among the six counties was observed for both nursing students and for nurses (<.001). Nursing students in Scotland and USA had the highest mean scores and Slovenia and Sweden were the countries with the lowest mean score. The highest score for nurses were reported in Scotland and Sweden and lowest in Germany and Japan. Conclusion: From the findings, it is suggested that formal nursing education to students between 18-29 years of age has high importance for positive attitudes towards working with older people.

Changing negative stereotypes regarding aging in undergraduate nursing students

“…It has been accepted that effective delivery of geriatric-specific teaching is a necessity for undergraduates Tullo et al, 2010;Kydd et al, 2014;Pepper, 2014). The introduction of new educational methodologies and the evaluation based on competences constitutes a necessity in the context of the European Higher Education Area.…”

Psychometric testing of the Older Patients in Acute Care Survey (OPACS) in Australian final year nursing students

“…However, evidence from multiple studies in a diverse range of countries demonstrates that many nurses hold negative, or only marginally positive, attitudes about working with older patients and engage in undesirable practices as a result, which contributes to a failure to provide older patients with appropriate care (Dahlke, Phinney, Hall, Rodney, & Baumbusch, 2015;Rush, Hickey, Epp, & Janke, 2017;Wilson et al, 2017). Nurses' behaviour is influenced by their attitudes, and negative attitudes can adversely affect the quality of care provided (Kydd et al, 2014).…”

“…Nurses' attitudes towards older patients are established early in their professional identity formation. Student nurses have been shown to demonstrate more negative attitudes towards older patients than those younger and having many interactions with older patients may increase prejudice (Kydd et al, 2014;van Leeuwen, Oosterhuis, & Ruyter, 2016). These attitudes may reflect those of a youth-oriented society (Chrisler, Barney, & Palatino, 2016;Heise, Johnsen, Himes, & Wing, 2012) or may be promoted by Bachelor of Nursing (BN) programs that focus on a biomedical model of ageing and links extreme illness and death with ageing (Henderson, Xiao, Siegloff, Kelton, & Paterson, 2008).…”

Teaching gerontology in globalized academics: a qualitative study of Thai nursing students’ views on ageing when studying abroad

“…Research has also highlighted the impact of education in gerontology on views towards working with older adults (Kydd et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2013).…”

“…Research on the impact of gerontological education on students' views of ageing and older people suggests it is important for nurse educators to include different views of ageing, as well as to present a holistic picture to the care of older adults that includes both healthy and pathological ageing processes (Kydd et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2013). Given the changing global demographics, where an increasingly older population is accompanied by culturally diverse societies, cross-cultural aspects on the care of older adults should be included within nursing education.…”