Gerontology & Geriatric Research

FINLAND AND TURKISH NURSING STUDENTSâ?? ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ELDERLY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

4^th International Conference on Geriatrics & Gerontological Nursing

October 3-4, 2016 | London, UK

Canan Birimoglu Okuyan, Sultan Ayaz and Raija Sairanen

Gazi University, Turkey
Turku Unıversity of Applied Sciences, Turkey

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Gerontol Geriat Res

Abstract:

It is essential for nursing students to have a positive attitude towards the elderly in order to improve care quality. This research was conducted in order to compare the attitude of nursing students from two different countries towards elderly patients. The process of this comperative and descriptive research was composed of two 1st and 2nd grade nursing care students (N=1124). No sample was chosen, 345 students accepting the participation were included. Data was collected with a questionnaire form and an �??Attitude Towards Elder People�?� scale. numbers, percentage distributions, averages, standard deviations, t tests and unidirectional variance analysis were used in the analysis of data. The students�?? average age was 21.26±4.2 where 83,5% (n=288) were female, 60,3%(n=208) were 1st grade students. Considering the low dimensions, Finland�??s �?? positive attitude�?� low group�??s average point is 59.39±6.3; Turkey�??s �??positive attitude�?� low groups�??s average point is 60.61+-9.7. Finland�??s �??negative attitude�?� low group�??s average point is 62.38±5.5, Turkey�??s �??negative attitude�?� low group�??s average point is 59.13±9.7. It was pointed out that Finland�??s students�?? average point in terms of negative attitude was higher and that the difference was statistically meaningful (p<0.05). It was pointed out that nursing student�??s positive attitude towards elders was low. Adding geriatrics and geriatric patient care into the nursing education program, symposiums, panels and conventions, increasing number of inservice training is important in order to improve nurse�??s attitude towards the elderly positively.

Biography :

Canan Birimoglu is an Research Assistant at Gazi University, Department of Public Health Nursing. She is interested in gerontological and geriatric nursing, health promotion, school health and nursing research. Her thesis about Tai Chi Chuan excersize with elderly people.

Email :cananbirimoglu@gmail.com