The effect of an initial clinical nursing experience in a nursing home on associate degree nursing student attitudes toward the elderl

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in associate degree nursing (ADN) students' attitudes toward the elderly following an initial clinical nursing experience in a nursing home. The Neuman Systems Model (Neuman, 1995) was the conceptual focus for the research. A convenience sample of ADN students in a basic nursing care clinical course at a community college was used. The Kogan Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (Kogan, 1961) was utilized to assess student attitudes toward the elderly. A pretest was administered at the beginning of the course prior to the nursing home experience, and a posttest was completed the last week of the clinical experience. Scores from both tests were evaluated using a paired t test. The results showed an increase in positive attitudes toward the elderly following an initial clinical experience in a nursing home.