Do Clinical Experiences Affect Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward the Elderly?

This descriptive study examined nursing students' attitudes toward the elderly pre- and post-clinical experiences in two healthcare settings (nursing home and hospital) and the relationship of knowledge about the elderly to student attitudes. Kogan's Attitude Toward Old People's Scale measured students' attitudes before and after their clinical experiences. In the same way, Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz assessed the subjects' knowledge about the elderly. A Demographic Data Form collected information on selected variables and a Clinical Data Form collected information on subjects' clinical placement and the ages of their clients. The results of this study indicate that students' attitudes toward the elderly improved regardless of their clinical setting and that there was a positive relationship between knowledge and attitudes. This illustrates that faculty may need to be less concerned about the students' clinical setting and focus more on the addition of gerontological content in the nursing curriculum.