|
Abstract Effect of a Gerontologic Educational Experience On Baccalaureate Nursing Students’ Attitudes toward the Elderly Mary J. Brendtro 1982 This research study addressed the question: “Will a class of baccalaureate nursing students who complete a two-course sequence which includes gerontologic concepts and experiences with well elderly have more positive attitudes toward the elderly than prior to the courses, as measured by Kogan’s Old People Scale?” Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance theory served as the theoretical framework for the study. Within this framework, the investigator assumed that nursing students experience dissonance because of the conflict between society’s negative view of the elderly and nursing ethics’ injunction to provide quality of care for the aged. A second assumption was that this dissonance could be reduced through a gerontologic educational experience. A pre- and post-test one-group design was utilized for the study. The sample was composed of 45 junior students in the baccalaureate nursing program of a Midwestern private liberal arts college. At the beginning and at the conclusion of a two-course sequence which included gerontologic concepts and experiences with well elderly, students completed Likert-type scale developed by Kogan for assessing attitudes toward the elderly. The paired t-test indicated that the difference between group means on the pre- and post-test was significant at the .0005 level. Based on the high statistical probability of this finding, the investigator concluded that the two-course sequence played a role in the development of more positive attitudes toward the elderly in this class of nursing students. Limitations of the study included: 1) use of a relatively small, non-random sample, thereby restricting the generalized ability of findings; and 2) use of a research design which did not control for such variables as concurrent coursework and life experiences which may have affected students’ attitudes toward the elderly.
|
