Nurses’ and Physicians’ Perceptions of Older People and Attitudes towards Older People: Ageism in a Hospital in Turkey

Abstract

Nurses and physicians provide health care for a growing number of older people as a result of the rapid increase in the life expectancies of older people. Health professionals' negative attitudes towards older people affect the quality of health care offered to these individuals. The sample for this study included 110 nurses and 57 physicians working in the medical and surgical clinics of a university hospital. A questionnaire form and the Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS) were used to collect the data. A 5-point Likert-type format was utilised for the AAS. The AAS total mean score was 80.02±2.64 for nurses and 83.17±9.09 for physicians. The difference between these mean scores was statistically significant (p<0.05). For the AAS subdimension "limiting the life of the older people", the physicians' score (35.14±6.22) was significantly higher than the nurses' score (33.22±3.59). In this study, nurses' and physicians' attitudes, approaches, and considerations were found to be generally positive.

Nurses' attitudes towards older people care: An integrative review

“…2015) used the Kogan Attitudes towards Old People (KATOP) scale to assess attitudes towards older adults; one using it indirectly to measure attitudes towards older people with respect to the difficulties they experienced in older patient care. Four studies used researcher developed Likert‐style surveys including the Ageism Attitude Scale measuring positive/negative discrimination (Polat, Karada, Ülger, & Demir, ), a scale for measuring nurses' perceptions of care of older people (Eloranta et al., ) and a scale measuring attitudes towards the care of elderly; nurse‐patient ratio and care of the elderly; factors influencing care of the elderly and knowledge of the ageing process (Oyetunde et al. ).…”

“…Nurses held both positive and negative attitudes towards caring for older adults. Six studies reported nurses' overall positive attitudes (Adibelli & Kilic, ; Eloranta et al., ; Gillis, MacDonald, & MacIsaac, ; Liu, Norman, & While, ; Oyetunde, Ojo, & Ojewale, ; Polat et al., ), and two studies reported nurses' overall negative attitudes towards older adult care (De Almeida Tavares et al., ; Higgins et al., ).…”

“…Polat et al. () found the majority of nurses reported having respect (80%) and patience (88.2%) towards older patients due to their age, gave time and attention to their needs (81%) including basic and informational needs, and prioritised their care over younger patients (54%). Oyetunde et al.…”

Ageist Attitudes and Their Association with Burnout and Job Satisfaction Among Nursing Staff: A Descriptive Study

“…Polat et al indicated that ageist attitudes among Turkish healthcare providers were not related to demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and education level (12). Usta et al found a correlation between gender and positive ageism among Turkish nursing students.…”

“…A study investigating ageist attitudes among nursing students, nurses, and physicians in the Turkish context demonstrated that Turkish healthcare providers' attitudes toward older individuals were generally positive (11)(12)(13). However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have evaluated ageist attitudes of Turkish nursing staff and its relation with occupational burnout and job satisfaction.…”