• Elena Castellano-Rioja, Marta Botella-Navas, Lourdes López-Hernández, Francisco Miguel Martínez-Arnau, and Pilar Pérez-Ros.
• Department of Nursing, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, 46007 Valencia, Spain.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2022 Sep 1; 58 (9).

AbstractBackground and Objectives: There is a growing interest in the measurement of attitudes towards older people in healthcare professionals, as there is a need to implement interventions to improve ageist attitudes. A one group pretest-posttest study was carried out to explore the change in nursing student attitudes towards the elderly during their university careers. Materials and Method: A total of 97 nursing students were enrolled. Attitudes were analyzed using Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale. Results: The attitude was positive from the beginning of the study, with a score of 110.06 (12.92). No differences were observed after completing the subject "Care of the elderly" (106.21 (10.77)), though a significant increase was recorded after the completion of clinical placement (142.88 (12.64)), with a large effect size (η2p = 0.754). The score of the positive items was significantly increased, but not that of the negative items, as ageist attitude was not reduced. Conclusion: The current curricular design, that includes taking the theoretical course before clinical placement in the geriatric area, increases positive attitudes in nursing students but does not reduce ageist attitudes.

12 keywords...

hide…