THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELF CONCEPT, ATTITUDE TOWARD THE ELDERLY, AND PREFERENCE FOR WORKING WITH THE ELDERLY OF REGISTERED NURSES EMPLOYED IN SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES.
Contributors: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 115
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Gerontology.
Description: The present shortage of nurses in long term care settings and general lack of interest shown by nurses in working with aged clients have stimulated investigation of nurses' attitudes toward the elderly and methods for making those attitudes more positive. However, little attention has been given to the identification of possible attenuating variables and the influence of those variables on preference for working with the elderly.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between self concept and attitude toward the elderly and to determine the influence of those variables on preference for working with the aged client. One hundred seventy-two registered nurses from 40 skilled care nursing homes completed a three-part questionnaire consisting of a demographic data sheet, the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, and Rosencraz-McNevins' Old Age Semantic Differential Scale. A matrix of Pearson correlation coefficients revealed a significant positive correlation between total scores and all subscales and factors of self concept and attitude toward the elderly (p < .001). A one-way analysis of variance indicated that no statistically significant difference exists between registered nurses who prefer to work with the elderly and registered nurses who prefer not to work with the elderly in regard to attitude toward the elderly and self concept. A secondary analysis using Kendall's Tau revealed several statistically significant relationships between various demographic characteristics, attitude, and preference.

The results of this study provide rationale for questioning the efficacy of changing attitudes toward the elderly as a means of increasing preference for working with them.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1613.

Thesis (ED.D.)--SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY AT EDWARDSVILLE, 1986.

School code: 0509.