Effect of an elderly care program on the nursing student's attitudes toward the elderly

Caring for aged people is an important part of professional nursing. Some researchers reported that nursing students have a negative attitude towards elderly care and do not like to choose the elderly care settings in their future career. This study aimed to assess the impact of a program of caring for the elderly people on nursing student's attitudes toward the elderly, in Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Methods & Materials: An interventional study was conducted on 59 fourth year nursing students. 32 students were in the control group and 27 ones in the intervention group. Both groups were initially pre-tested, then the intervention group were placed in a 10-day program for caring of the elderly. One day after the 10th day post test was done in both groups. Kogan’s attitude towards old people (KAOP) questionnaire was used to assess student's attitudes. Data analysis performed using independent sample t-test, paired t test, ANOVA, chi-square and Fisher exact tests in SPSS11.5 software. In the present study, 40.7% of the samples were male students and 59.3% were female. The mean scores of attitude towards elderly were not significantly different at the beginning of the study (P=0.62). The mean scores of attitude in the intervention group were 118.18 and 119.62 at baseline and at the end respectively (P=0.62). Also, the mean of attitude scores in the control group were 119.4 and 125.37 at baseline and at the end respectively (P=0.01). Elderly care program had a negative effect on the attitudes of nursing students toward the elderly. The living arrangement and the condition of the hospice perhaps had effect on how changes in the attitudes have occurred. Further studies in this area are suggested.