After All It Is About Knowledge: Nurses' Attitudes Toward Older Patients In Acute Care In Israel

Aim: Negative biases and ageist attitudes toward older people among caregivers in acute care settings, especially nurses, are one of the main expressions of ageism in the healthcare system. The presented study was designed to (1) explore the level of knowledge of aging and the attitudes of nurses toward older people in acute care and (2) to examine the effect of selected socio-demographics and nursing work characteristics on attitudes toward older people. Methods: A descriptive correlational design was used. Participants were nurses working in med-surgical and surgical units of the largest public hospital located in the northern part of Israel. Out of 210 questionnaires, 170 were completed and returned (response rate of 81%). The research tools used Kogan’s Attitudes towards Older People Scale and Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quiz. Statistical analysis included univarite correlations and multivariate regression modeling. Findings The level of Israeli nurses’ knowledge of facts on aging was relatively poor (12.8/25) and their average score on attitudes towards older persons placed them in an intermediate place (3.3/5), compared to finding from other countries. Knowledge of aging and ethnicity were the only significant predictors of the level of ageist attitudes toward older people. Conclusions: Placing more emphasis on gerontological education for nurses is an important avenue to reduce ageism, while more research is needed to fully understand the relationships between ethnic background and ageist attitudes.