Nurses' Attitudes towards Elderly Patients and Related Factors

Abstract

This study was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the attitudes of nurses’ towards elderly patients and related factors. The study was carried out between 1 July and 25 December 2014 at Haydarpaşa Training Hospital in Üsküdar, İstanbul. 320 nurses working in the hospital created the population of the research. Sampling method has not been, it is aimed to reach the whole of the population. The research was completed with 159 nurses who gave verbal approval and completed the questionnaire. An introductory questionnaire containing the demographic characteristics prepared by the researcher and an elderly attitude scale were used to collect the data. In the analysis of the data, number, percentage, independent groups t test, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis were used. Nurses; 94.3% are women, 59.2% are undergraduate and 53.2% are more than 10 years in nursing. It was determined that the average score of the elderly attitude scale of the nurses participating in the research was 151.7 ± 18.7, which is high. In the study, gender, age, marital status, educational status, total years of study, in-service training and living together with aging did not affect the attitude of the nurses towards the elderly. It has been determined that nurses working at the hospital have a positive attitude toward elderly. It is thought that the evaluation of nurses in other regions and hospitals of different stages is important in terms of elderly attitude and welfare of the country.

Key words: Elderly, Attitude, Attiudes to Elderly, Nurse.