Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes Towards Ageism and Affected Factors (original) (raw)
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University Students’ Views and Practices of Ageism
Ageing International
Ageism encompasses beliefs (elderly people are ugly, bad-tempered and ill, etc.) and attitudes (the preference of being young over being old, etc.) which have the potential to turn into discriminative actions. In the present day, it is notable that the majority of those who discriminate against the elderly are young people. For this reason, the study was conducted with a cross-sectional design in order to identify university students’ views on ageism and ageism practices. The sample of the study was comprised of students selected by means of stratified random sampling in proportion with the size. 378 students (203 women, 175 men) participated in the study. The questionnaire form prepared by the researchers was used as a data collection tool. An analysis of the students’ views in terms of gender revealed that the students most frequently identified the statement “addressing the elderly with names like ‘senile’, ‘old chap’, ‘old man”’ (female: 94.1%, male: 88.6%) and the statement “ignoring old people’s experiences” (female: 86.2%, male: 85.7%) as discrimination. The difference between all student views was not found to be significant in terms of gender (p > 0.05). When the students’ state of practicing ageist behaviors was analyzed, it was found out that students in general did not practise “addressing old people with names like ‘senile’, ‘old chap’, ‘old man’” (female: 94.1%, male: 92.0%) and “helping old people with their packages” (female: 92.6%, male: 97.7%). It was determined that students most frequently applied the behavior “teasing old people wearing highly colourful clothes” (female: 87.2%, male: 85.1%). Only the difference in the behavior of “not helping old people with their packages” was found to be significant in terms of gender (p < 0.05). It was discovered that students mostly viewed statements related to ageism as discrimination, and in the same way the majority displayed ageist behavior. It is assumed that the identification of young people’s views on ageism and their practices of ageism will shed light on future practices aiming to equip them with positive attitudes and an egalitarian point of view towards ageism and help them develop their own ideas, behavior and attitudes.
Factors affecting the attitudes of nursing students toward ageism
Nursing Practice Today, 2020
Background & Aim: The world's older adult population is increasing and is expected to increase in the future. Ageism is one of the difficulties older adults experienced. Nursing students as a candidate for the nursing profession will frequent contact with older adults. Ageism attitudes among nursing students are essential for this reason. This study aims to determine the attitudes of nursing students toward ageism and the factors affecting it. Method & Materials: The study was cross-sectional, and the data were collected from January to February 2019. The study included 509 students. A demographic data form and the Ageism Attitude Scale were used to collect data. Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.94±1.30 years and 439 (86.2%) participants were female. Female nurse students show lower ageist attitudes than males (p<0.001) and between the year of study and attitudes to ageism (p = 0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between nurse students caring for older people and those not caring for older people and attitudes to ageism (p<0.001). Conclusion: In nursing students, giving care to older people during their education, and having lived with an older relative should be considered to reduce ageism. We offer that nurse curriculums revised to reduce ageism according to factors affecting attitudes to ageism.
Nursing students' attitudes towards ageism and influencing factors
New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2023
This descriptive and cross-sectional study aims to determine the attitudes of nursing students toward ageism and influencing factors. The study was carried out between March 18 and April 8, 2023, with the participation of 209 students who were studying in the nursing department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a university and volunteered to participate. The data were collected by the researchers using the questionnaire form prepared in line with the literature and the Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS). Arithmetic mean, Standard deviation, median and frequency (percent) values, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. In this study, it can be stated that students have a positive attitude towards ageism in line with the scores they receive from the AAS. In line with the findings obtained from the study, it is recommended to organize scientific activities and ensure the participation of students to increase students' awareness of ageism and to ensure that they gain a positive attitude.
Erciyes Medical Journal, 2021
Objective: Attitudes of medical faculty students toward ageism are an important issue in terms of public health. In Turkey, there is not enough study to attract attention to ageism. In this study, it was aimed to determine some factors related to the attitudes of the first and last year students of Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine toward the elderly in the 2017-2018 academic year. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the data of 468 (71.6%) students studying in the first and last years were analyzed. As a data collection tool, a sociodemographic questionnaire and Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS) were used. The dependent variable of the study was the attitude toward ageism, independent variables were age, gender, grade, economic situation, family structure, the condition of staying with the elderly before and currently, and willingness to care for the elderly. Results: The average age of participants was 21.8±3.0 years, 51.0% were first grade and 51.5% were women. The total AAS score of the students was 84.9±8.8, the restricting the life of the elderly was 36.8±4.3, the positive ageism score was 30.3±5.0, and the negative ageism score was 17.8±3.0. The AAS total score and the restricting the life of the elderly score were significantly higher in women and last grade students (p<0.05). Conclusion: To develop students' attitudes toward the elderly in a positive way, elderly health and old age lessons should be included in the curriculum and students should be provided with spending time with the elderly.
Opinions of high school students in central Elazig about elderliness
Methods: Students attending five different types of high schools in central Elazig (a city in Turkey) during the 2009–2010 school year constitute the study population. One class was randomly selected from each high school. Out of 650 students, 640 participated in the study. The data were evaluated by using the SPSS program; percentage, mean, and chi-square analyses were used. Findings: Of all the students, 41.7% defined the elderly as those who are 60 years of age or older. When asked the question “What does elderliness mean to you?”, the majority of the students, 27.2%, responded “peace and resting”. The second most common answer, given by 23.6% of students, was “sickness/tiredness”; 16.6% responded “wisdom/experience”. Many students (30.3%) stated that the most difficult thing about living with the elderly was their interference in everything; 30.6% of students stated that there was no difficulty at all. According to 42.7% of the students, the greatest problem that the elderly face is health. Of all of the students, 58.3% stated that they feared growing old. Conclusion: Our study has concluded the following: 1) High school students have a conventional perception of elderliness and 2) They embrace the elderly and think that perspectives on elderliness will change through education.
Ageism: College Students' Perceptions about Older People
Nwsa Social Sciences, 2011
Old age is generally defined as a social phenomenon accompanied by prejudices, stereotypes and negative images. Despite the arguement that in recent years a social process of positive change is taking place in the perception of the elderly, the negative image is still the most frequent among all age groups, including the young people. This research was planned and carried out to determine college students" perceptions about older people and ageist attitudes towards them. The data were obtained using a questionnairewas administered to students enrolled in different courses at universities in city of Ankara. The convenient sample of 278 volunteers consisted of 141 women and 137 men, ranging in age from 17 to 32 years. Results from the "Froboni Scale of Ageism" suggest that female and male students were quite similar in the ageist behaviors. Findings also stated that altough male students mean scores were some more higher than females", gender was not statistically correlated with ageism.
Ageism among Undergraduate Students: Do Grandparents make a Difference
Indian Journal of Gerontology. Vol. 34( 3), pp. 333–342 ISSN: 0971–4189, 2020
In an era of greying population, the idea of discriminating against people based on their chronological age is nothing less than absurd. The psychological insecurity sprouting from the anxiety about ageing paired with multiple factors often paves the way to ageism. The current research aims at investigating if the experience of living with grandparents has any significant influence on reducing ageism among undergraduate students. A self-reported questionnaire was employed among 194 students in the age group 17–22 from three colleges of Kasaragod district, Kerala to collect demographic data and The Fraboni Scale of Ageism was employed to measure ageism among the respondents and the mean score of those who were living with/had lived with their grandparents was compared with those who had never lived with their grandparents. The results of the study show that those respondents who live with their grandparents or have lived with their grandparents in the past had significantly lower ageism scores than those who had never resided with their grandparents. Further, the study could find that the awareness programmes on ageing and old age are not adequately available to young people and the awareness programmes that are provided are not efficient enough to eliminate ageism, as the data suggests. The study points to the importance of inter-generational living in eliminating ageist notions and the need for effective awareness programmes.
Attitudes of the Student Youth and Middle Aged Persons Towards the Elderly
2008
Two data sets obtained by administering the Tuckman and Lorge Scale (1953) to a sample of 75 university students and 114 rural, middle aged people are used to assess the attitudes of two age groups toward the elderly. The results indicate that the student youth, the respondents not living with old people in their families, men, respondents belonging to disadvantaged sections of the society, and those from low income groups hold more negative attitudes toward the elderly as compared to their counterparts. More specifically, poverty appears to be significantly associated with negative attitudes toward the elderly which may be the consequence of lack of enough financial resources to take care of them. It is recommended that programmes should be designed to integrate the aged into the family and social fabric, to bring the younger generations closer to them and to provide families with support services so as to enable them to take better care of the old people.
2019
Background: There is an increase in the health problems associated with increasing in elderly population worldwide. As nursing students are the future health care providers, their positive attitudes towards elders and adequate knowledge of elderly care would improve the quality of provided services. The aim: of the present study was to investigate knowledge about elderly care and its relation to ageism attitude among undergraduate nursing students. Design: A descriptive research study was used. Setting: this study was conducted at faculty of Nursing-Minia university. Subjects: All available nursing students (320 students) at fourth academic year, and data was collected in December, 2017. Tools: Three tools were utilized; first one covered personal data of the studied sample, the second one was the Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS), and the last one was knowledge questionnaire sheet about care of elderly people. Results: The majority of Minia university nursing students have lack of knowle...
Investigation Of The Attitudes Of Unıversity Students To Discriminaton of Elderly
Northern Clinics of Istanbul
OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine the attitudes of university students studying in different fields toward discrimination of the elderly. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted with students who were still studying in the 2015-2016 period. A sample size of 416 students was determined by the stratified sampling method, and students were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using an identifying information form and an Age Discrimination Attitude Scale (ADAS) by face-toface interview. Statistical analysis was performed using the program SPSS 20.0. RESULTS: The mean total ADAS score of students was 67.7±6.0. The total ADAS scores and the scores of male students on limiting the life of the elderly was significantly higher than those of female students (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: It was determined that university students studying in different fields have a positive attitude toward the elderly. Action must be taken to remove discrimination of the elderly, and policies must be developed to increase social sensitivity.