•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Background: The aging population is increasing globally and requires a high demand for healthcare services in several countries. As a way of preparing future nurses in aged care, substantial incorporation of gerontology courses in the nursing program to meet future needs is required. The present study aimed to investigate the association between attitudes and work preferences toward older people among undergraduate nursing students.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 291 nursing students at a Malaysian public university. A set of questionnaires was used that comprised the following three parts: (1) Part A: Sociodemographic background, (2) Part B: Attitudes toward older people, and (3) Part C: Nursing students’ work preferences.

Results: Most of the participants (80.4%) demonstrated slightly positive attitudes on older people. Only 2.4% selected older people group as their work preference. There were no significant associations between attitudes with sex (p = 0.84), year of study (p = 0.30), living status (p = 0.77), and work preferences (p = 0.81).

Conclusion: Overall, the majority of participants had slightly positive attitudes on older people. Although they had positive attitudes on older people, working in aged care setting is not their first preference after their graduation.

References

1. Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations. World Population Ageing. New York: United Nations, 2015.

2. Department of Statistics Malaysia. Current population estimates, Malaysia, 2018-2019. Malaysia: Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2019.

3. Neville C, Dickie R, Goetz S. What’s stopping a career in gerontological nursing?: Literature review. J Gerontol Nurs. 2013;40:18–27.

4. Neville C. A cross-sectional view of Australian undergraduate nurses’ perceptions of working with older people. Collegian. 2016;23:285–92.

5. Naughton C, O’Shea KL, Hayes N. Incentivising a career in older adult nursing: The views of student nurses. Int J Older People Nurs. 2019;14:e12256.

6. Stevens JA. Student nurses’ career preferences for working with older people: A replicated longitudinal survey. Int J Nurs Stud. 2011;48:944–51.

7. Kydd A, Touhy T, Newman D, Fagerberg I, Engstrom G. Attitudes towards caring for older people in Scotland, Sweden and the United States. Nurs Older People. 2014;26:33–40.

8. Hsieh PL, Chen CM. Geriatric nursing and long term care content in baccalaureate nursing programs in Taiwan. Int J Gerontol. 2018;12:52–6.

9. Hsu MHK, Ling MH, Lui TL. Relationship between gerontological nursing education and attitude toward older people. Nurse Educ Today. 2019;74:85–90.

10. Koh LC. Student attitudes and educational support in caring for older people–A review of literature. Nurse Educ Pract. 2012;12:16–20.

11. Menec V, Novek S. Attitudes Towards Aging. In Michalos AC. Ed. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer Netherlands, 2014, p. 291–7.

12. Che CC, Chong MC, Hairi NN. What influences student nurses’ intention to work with older people? A cross-sectional study. Int J Nurs Stud. 2018;85:61–7.

13. Rathnayake S, Athukorala Y, Siop S. Attitudes toward and willingness to work with older people among undergraduate nursing students in a public university in Sri Lanka: A cross sectional study. Nurse Educ Today. 2016;36:439–44.

14. Söylemez BA, Küçükgüçlü Ö, Tekin D, Ergin SB, Yaman A. Examining nursing students’ attitudes towards the elderly and factors affecting attitudes towards the elderly. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Hemşirelik Fakültesi Elektron Derg. 2018;11:173–9.

15. El-Tantawy SA. Relation between nursing students’ knowledge of aging and attitude towards elderly people and their will and intent to work with the elderly. J Educ Pract. 2013;4:125–36.

16. Neville C, Dickie R. The evaluation of undergraduate nurses’ attitudes, perspectives and perceptions toward older people. Nurse Educ Today. 2014;34:1074–9.

17. Kaur S, Kumar A, Kaur B, Rani B, Ghai S. Knowledge and attitude regarding care of elderly among nursing students: An Indian perspective. J Nurs Care. 2014;3:1000161.

18. McCloskey R, Yetman L, Stewart C, Slayter J, Jarrett P, McCollum A, et al. Changes in nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes and interest in caring for older adults: A longitudinal cohort study. Nurse Educ Pract. 2020;44:102760.

19. Bleijenberg N. Dutch nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes towards older people-A longitudinal cohort study. J Nurs Educ Pract. 2012;2:1–8.

20. Hebditch M, Daley S, Wright J, Sherlock G, Scott J, Banerjee S. Preferences of nursing and medical students for working with older adults and people with dementia: A systematic review. BMC Med Educ. 2020;20:92.

21. Darling R, Sendir M, Atav S, Buyukyilmaz F. Undergraduate nursing students and the elderly: An assessment of attitudes in a Turkish university. Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2018;39:283–94.

22. Jang I, Oh D, Kim YS. Factors associated with nursing students’ willingness to care for older adults in Korea and the United States. Int J Nurs Sci. 2019;6:426–31.

23. Lee J, Garfin DR, Vaughn S, Lee YS. Factors associated with gerontological career choice: The role of curriculum type and students’ attitudes. J Nurs Educ Pract. 2018;8:1–9.

24. King BJ, Roberts TJ, Bowers BJ. Nursing student attitudes toward and preferences for working with older adults. Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2013;34:272–91.

25. Fernandes CS, Afonso A, Couto G. Atitudes dos estudantes de enfermagem em relação à pessoa idosa: Nursing students’ attitudes toward older people. Geriatr Gerontol Aging. 2018;12:166–71.

26. Hsu MHK. Nursing students’ attitudes towards older people and future career choices in Macao: A pilot study. J Nurs Educ Pract. 2019;9:10–9.

27. Abudu-Birresborn D, McCleary L, Puts M, Yakong V, Cranley L. Preparing nurses and nursing students to care for older adults in lower and middle-income countries: A scoping review. Int J Nurs Stud. 2019;92:121–34.

28. Okuyan CB, Alkaya SA, Sairanen R. Finnish and Turkish nursing students’ attitudes toward the older people’. J Gerontol Geriatr Res. 2018;7:476–9.

29. Alshehry AS, Almazan JU, Alquwez N. Influence of religiosity on the Saudi nursing students’ attitudes toward older people and perceptions on elderly care. J Relig Health. 2020;59:2701–14.

30. Kogan N. Attitudes toward old people: The development of a scale and an examination of correlates. J Abnorm Soc Psychol. 1961;62:44–54.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.