Attitudes of nursing students regarding age discrimination(ageism) and affecting factors

This study was conducted to determine the attitudes of nursing students towards age discrimination and the affecting factors. The research was carried out as a descriptive cross sectional study between January 1, 2019 and August 1, 2019. The population of the study was 1056 students studying at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Nursing and the sample of the study consisted of 337 students determined according to the sample calculation formula when the population was certain. The sampling selection of the student within the classes was made by simple random sampling method. Research data were collected by means of Personal Information Form and Age Discrimination Attitude Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskall-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. In the study, the mean score of the Age Discrimination Attitude Scale of the students was determined as 84.59. It was concluded that the students had a positive attitude towards age discrimination. It was determined that the high school where the students graduated from, the region where they lived for the longest period, sharing the same house with elders and desiring to provide care to elders following graduation, significantly affected the attitude towards age discrimination (p <0.05). It was determined that students would like to work with elders after graduation, but would not prefer to provide care services as they might have difficulty in communicating with them. In order to reduce the aforementioned concerns, it may be suggested to cover communication with the elders in detail in the course of both the undergraduate study and the postgraduate in-service training programs conducted and to conduct qualitative studies on the subject. Key Words: Attitude, Age Discrimination, Elders, Nursing Student