ANALYSIS OF A SIMULATION TECHNIQUE FOR DEVELOPING ATTITUDE CHANGE TOWARD ELDERLY AMONG HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS (GAME, NURSES, OLDER ADULT, GERIATRICS, LONG TERM CARE).
Contributors: Boston University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 111
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Gerontology.
Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of game simulation in increasing positive attitudes of health care providers in long term care.

A true experimental design was used to study the attitudes toward the elderly of 65 subjects. Nurses aides, licensed practical nurses and registered nurses were randomly selected from the staffs of two chronic hospitals in a large metropolitan area. The control group completed Kogan's "Attitude Toward Old People Scale" only; the experimental group participated in the simulation game "Into Aging" followed by a discussion and completion of Kogan's "Attitude Toward Old People Scale" immediately and three weeks later.

Non-parametric statistical tests were used to analyze the data. The results indicated no significant differences in attitude between the experimental and control groups or between the immediate and three week post-tests of the experimental group. However, there were significant findings among attitude scores and the post-hoc variables of age, education, length of time working in the present setting and length of time working with the elderly.

A significant negative correlation was revealed between age and attitude scores which indicated the younger the care provider the more positive the attitude toward the elderly. A significant positive correlation was found between education and attitude scores that indicated the more education of the care provider the more positive the attitude toward the elderly.

Further analysis of length of time working in the present hospital setting revealed a significant negative correlation for the control group that indicated the longer the care provider worked in the present hospital setting the less positive the attitude toward the elderly.

Overall, a significant positive correlation was found between attitude scores and length of time working with the elderly. This data indicated the longer the care provider worked with the elderly the more positive the attitude score.

Care providers who participated in the experiment reported a positive experience through game playing which increased their awareness of the dependence of the elderly patient in a long term care setting.

More detailed results are reported in the study along with implications and research observations.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-02, Section: B, page: 0476.

Thesis (ED.D.)--BOSTON UNIVERSITY, 1985.

School code: 0017.