Kontakt 2016, 18(4):e213-e218 | DOI: 10.1016/j.kontakt.2016.10.002

Nurses' attitudes and knowledge of the geriatric age issueNursing - Original article

Oľga Kabátováa,*, Silvia Putekováa, Jana Martinkováa, Henrieta Záhorecováb
a Trnavská univerzita, Fakulta zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce, Katedra ošetrovateľstva, Trnava, Slovenská republika
b Nemocnica akademika Ladislava Dérera, Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Aim: The research aim was to map attitudes and knowledge of nurses regarding the issue of geriatric age and to find the influence of selected determinants influencing nurses' knowledge.

Design: The work has a design of a cross-sectional quantitative study that is performed based on a questionnaire survey.

Methodology: The research group was formed of 100 nurses who were classified in the sample based on intentional selection. The quantitative research was performed with the help of two methodologies. The nurses' attitudes towards seniors were measured based on the Fraboni Scale of Ageism (FSA); we gathered information regarding the nurses' knowledge about the issue of geriatric age by the means of a questionnaire of our own structure. The influence of the selected determinants influencing the nurses' knowledge of the geriatric age issue was verified based on the statistical tests: the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Spearman correlation coefficient.

Results: With the help of the FSA questionnaire we found that 72% of the nurses have a slightly positive view of the elderly, i.e. almost no ageist attitudes. We found a medium level of ageist attitudes and thus slightly negative views of the elderly in 28% of the nurses. The knowledge level regarding the geriatric age issue in 14% of the nurses was excellent, in 36% of them it was very good, 29% had good knowledge, it was satisfactory in 12% and dissatisfactory in 9%. Based on the statistical tests, we found a correlation between the age (p = 0.009), length of professional practice (p = 0.017), and education (p = 0.007) of the nurses and their knowledge of the geriatric age issue.

Conclusion: The research results point to the need of comprehensive education for nurses in the area of geriatrics and gerontology with an emphasis on an individual approach and non-generalisation of individuals within the whole senior population.

Keywords: Old age; Geriatrics; Nursing; Knowledge; Attitudes

Received: July 26, 2016; Revised: September 2, 2016; Accepted: October 7, 2016; Published: November 30, 2016  Show citation

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Kabátová O, Puteková S, Martinková J, Záhorecová H. Nurses' attitudes and knowledge of the geriatric age issue. Kontakt. 2016;18(4):e213-218. doi: 10.1016/j.kontakt.2016.10.002.
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