Undergraduate nurse attitudes toward older adults and perceptions of working with older adults: an analysis of measurement instruments

Abstract

Background: An undergraduate nurse's attitude toward older adults or their perception of working with older adults can influence the quality of care provided and their career choice, respectively. As such, it is important to conduct research that contributes to the evaluation of attitudes and perceptions. In the conduct of comprehensive and rigorous research, it is necessary to make the right choice of an instrument to measure outcomes. The identification of a valid and reliable instrument to suit a specific research question is a complex process.

Objective: In order to deal with this complexity, this paper reviews instruments that have been used to measure undergraduate nurse attitudes toward older adults and their perceptions of working with older adults.

Data sources: Data were sourced from Medline, CINAHL, Healthsource/Academic Edition, PsycINFO and PubMed for the years 2008-2013.

Results: Eight readily available instruments were identified and their characteristics analyzed for their purpose, number of items, design, reliability and validity. The strengths and weaknesses of each of the instruments and recent use are also discussed.

Conclusion: The choice of a suitable instrument is likely to be critical to the testing of intervention strategies such as curriculum activities, which target attitude improvements to enhance the quality and effectiveness of nursing care provided to older adults.

Keywords: Aged; Attitudes; Measurement; Nursing; Perceptions; Perspectives; Scales; Students.