Nursing students' attitudes towards older adult people

Background: Due to changing demographics in the population, the majority of current
nursing students will work mostly with older people after graduation. It is known that most
nursing students have little knowledge and interests in working with older people. There is a
growing need for motivated nurses to provide care for older people as the quality of care is
influenced by their attitudes. Aim of the study: Was to assess nursing students' attitudes
towards older adult people. Setting: Faculty of Nursing, University of Mosul, Iraq. Subject: 67
Male and 166 Female students in College of Nursing. Tools of data collection: It is a
questionnaire sheet including: Section (1) demographic data of the students, age, Stage
study, gender, marital status and residences. Section (2) comprised the "Kogan Attitudes
towards Older People Scale". Results: The mean Score of the first year, Second-year, Thirdyear
and Fourth-year students for negative attitude were 3.58, 3.46, 3.55, and 3.47,
respectively. The mean KOPS scores in male and female students were 3.44 and 3.54,
respectively. Conclusion: This study concluded that the nursing students had minimal
negative attitude of toward old people. Recommendations: The study recommended that
education should focus on increasing positive working experiences with older people.
Revision and improvement of the curricula might be needed to enhance the knowledge and
attitudes of the Iraq nursing students.