Descriptive Study Of Registered Nurses Attitudes Toward The Elderly

Author : Romy L. Hefner
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (724 download)

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Download or read book Exploring the Perceptions of Nursing Personnel Towards the Elderly written by Romy L. Hefner and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this archival research is to analyze data previously collected, examining attitudes among nursing personnel towards the elderly with regard to possible age and gender biases. Little research has been done exploring the possible combined impact of age and gender biases. Furthermore, although research on ageism in nursing has found significant correlations between nurses' attitudes and education and employment agency, many of these studies are dated and results are contradictory. This study examined nursing personnel's attitudes toward the elderly by pairing a specific case description with an attitudinal scale. The data was collected from 105 registered nurses and nursing assistants employed in nursing homes and home health care agencies in the Chicago area. Each participant received one of two possible case vignettes. Both cases describe an older adult, which varies only by gender. Following is the Aging Semantic Differential Scale, assessing the participants' perceptions of the adult in the vignette on three dimensions, effectiveness, independence, and personal acceptability. A demographic survey was also administered. The main question of this study is whether reading a story of a male or female elder influences attitudes on the Aging Semantic Differential Scale. Another set of questions involves the effect of training and place of employment on attitudes toward the elderly. Univariate analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to aid in interpretation of significant differences on each of the three scales. No gender differences or stereotypes toward the elderly were found in this sample either because the Aging Semantic Differential Scale was not sensitive enough to assess them or possibly because with age, gender identity becomes tangential and age becomes the dominant categorizing factor. Significant training differences were also found indicating that certified nursing assistants had more positive attitudes toward the elderly than registered nurses, and certified nursing assistants in home health care agencies had the most positive attitudes. The professional socialization process and environmental differences are discussed as explanations for these results.