Factors affecting the attitudes of nursing students toward ageism

Abstract

Background & Aim: The world's older adult population is increasing and is expected to increase in the future. Ageism is one of the difficulties older adults experienced. Nursing students as a candidate for the nursing profession will frequent contact with older adults. Ageism attitudes among nursing students are essential for this reason. This study aims to determine the attitudes of nursing students toward ageism and the factors affecting it.

Method & Materials: The study was cross-sectional, and the data were collected from January to February 2019. The study included 509 students. A demographic data form and the Ageism Attitude Scale were used to collect data.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.94±1.30 years and 439 (86.2%) participants were female. Female nurse students show lower ageist attitudes than males (p<0.001) and between the year of study and attitudes to ageism (p = 0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between nurse students caring for older people and those not caring for older people and attitudes to ageism (p<0.001).

Conclusion: In nursing students, giving care to older people during their education, and having lived with an older relative should be considered to reduce ageism. We offer that nurse curriculums revised to reduce ageism according to factors affecting attitudes to ageism.