Attitudes, knowledge, and interest: preparing university students to work in an aging world

Abstract

Interest in working with older adults was significantly related to positive attitudes, more knowledge and formal previous contact. Positive attitudes towards older adults can be promoted through interaction with faculty members and experts, knowledge acquisition about normative changes with age, and contact with healthy and impaired older adults.

The evaluation of undergraduate nurses' attitudes, perspectives and perceptions toward older people

“…King et al (2013) found a stand-alone gerontological nursing course produced positive attitudes toward older people as did Baumbusch et al acute medical and surgical where the focus was on praxis and not specifically care of older people (Holroyd et al, 2009). These claims are supported by others (Goncalves et al, 2011;Runkawatt et al, 2013;Xiao et al, 2013).…”

“…Evidence-based curriculum activities from Part A of Table 2 people in the students' personal lives where they saw older people as 'normal' and felt they should receive equal treatment was contrasted with feeling sorry for older people in the clinical environment and frustrating to work with. Quite a few researchers found that work experience with the older person seemed to be a positive influence (Chen and Walsh, 2009;Evers et al, 2011;Goncalves et al, 2011;Henderson et al, 2008;Holroyd et al, 2009;Runkawatt et al, 2013;Swanlund and Kujath, 2012;Xiao et al, 2013). Personal and work experiences may be improved by targeting educational activities where positive socialisation experiences with older people occur.…”

“…A reason offered by the researchers was culturally based, where men are not expected to be the carers for older people. Older students had more positive attitudes (Ayoglu et al, 2013;Goncalves et al, 2011;Holroyd et al, 2009;Runkawatt et al, 2013;Williams et al, 2007) and this was attributed to more mature views about the reality of ageing and experience with older people.…”

Ageism in Mental Health Assessment and Treatment of Older Adults

“…More recently, a review demonstrated an age bias among psychotherapists, with many expressing the view that depression in late life is a natural consequence of old age and that old age is a phase of life associated with less satisfaction and diminished personal growth (Laidlaw and Pachana 2009). In Portugal, Gonçalves and colleagues (Gonçalves et al 2011) found that compared with nursing and social work undergraduates, psychology students expressed the most negative attitudes, the lowest level of knowledge, and the lowest level of interest in working with older adults.…”

Changing negative stereotypes regarding aging in undergraduate nursing students

“…Different authors assert a positive correlation between the level of gerontological knowledge and both attitudes to older people and willingness to work in geriatric care (Deschodt et al, 2010;Koh, 2012;Goncalves et al, 2011). A systematic review determined that educational interventions in geriatrics can improve the knowledge, skills and attitudes of undergraduate medical students (Tullo et al, 2010).…”