Knowledge, Attitude and Willingness to Work with Older Adults Among Nursing Students in Nepal

Abstract

Background: Globally, the number of older persons is growing faster and with aging co-morbidity increases, resulting in declined health outcomes, high mortality and increased use of health care resources. The need for production of nurses with the right attitude and knowledge on aging is crucial to improve their willingness to care for older adults. Objectives of the study aims to identify the knowledge, attitude and willingness to work with older adults among nursing students in Nepal.

Methods: Cross- sectional research design was used and the settings for the study were four constituent nursing campuses of TU IOM (Biratnagar, Pokhara, Birgunj and Nepalgunj), population were B.Sc Nursing and BNS students. Census method was adopted to collect the data through a self-administered questionnaire through email. Questionnaire was developed based on Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quiz (Revised) and Willingness to Work with Elderly People Scale (WEPS). Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi square test, Correlation) was used to analyze the data.

Results: The findings suggested that among 148 nursing students, 50.7% had good knowledge on elderly care with mean ±SD =26.66 ± 3.44. More than half of the participants (52%) had favorable attitude on elderly care with median score 26 and 63.5% had willing to care elderly with Mean ± SD = 20.61 ± 5.37.

Conclusions: Nursing students had good knowledge with favorable attitudes and had a willingness to work and care for the elderly. This study tends to associate between willingness to care for older adults with positive attitudes and knowledge on ageing among nursing students.