Knowledge, attitude and understanding of work with the elderly of nursing care employees in nursing homes
explorative research
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14528/snr.2020.54.1.2998Keywords:
ageism, Alzheimer disease, eduacation, special knowledge, specialization, advanced nursing care, cross-sector collaborationAbstract
Introduction: An appropriate attitude, and general and professional knowledge of professionals working withthe elderly, as well as their understanding of the importance of their role, may significantly contribute to breaking stereotypes on the elderly and ensuring high-quality elderly care. The aim of the research was to examine the attitude to work with the elderly as well as the knowledge and understanding about this kind of work in order to determine a possible correlation between the attitude, knowledge and understanding of working with the elderly and training offered to nursing home employees.
Methods: A quantitative, explorative research design was employed on a sample of nursing care providers (n = 266) in 13 nursing homes in Slovenia. Data were collected with previously developed tools (FAQ-R, POWP, ASD, ADKS). The research was conducted from June to August 2017. Data were analyzed with descriptive and bivariate statistics.
Results: In FAQ-R, respondents provided correct answers to 65.2 % of questions, a figure which increased with the level of education (p < 0.001). A negative attitude towards the elderly was established in 7.8 % of the respondents. The average score achieved in the ADKS scale was 64.9 % (s = 14.86); the score differed according to the respondents' level of education (p < 0.001) and correlated with their age (p = 0.022).
Discussion and conclusion: Nursing care providers in nursing homes lacked the general knowledge about the elderly and aging; their level of knowledge on Alzheimer's disease was satisfactory but decreased with the respondents' level of education. The research results point to the need of introducing intersectoral measures as a response to the needs of the long-life society. The area should be researched further and new instruments should be developed to enable causal research.
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