Educational needs related to elder abuse among undergraduate nursing students in Korea: An importance-performance analysis

Abstract

Background: Elder abuse is a prominent social issue and is a particularly grave problem in increasingly aging societies. Provision of appropriate elder abuse education programs for undergraduate nursing students, who are the future healthcare providers, can aid the detection of elder abuse by strengthening their practical knowledge.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to conduct an importance-performance analysis (IPA) on the educational content related to elder abuse among undergraduate nursing students in Korea.

Design: Cross-sectional design with a questionnaire survey.

Setting: Nursing department in the Chungcheong region of South Korea.

Participants: A total of 324 undergraduate nursing students participated.

Methods: The IPA and Borich needs assessment of undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of elder abuse education were conducted.

Results: The IPA analysis indicated that quadrant I demonstrated high levels of both importance and performance. The results of the Borich needs assessment, which analyzed the order of priority of the educational needs, also indicated that the factors that ranked high in the order of priority belonged to quadrant 1 (strengthening maintenance) and quadrant 4 (concentrated investment), consistent with the IPA results. The results of the locus for focus model identified the elder abuse education topics' first and second priority groups. Educational themes such as "understanding of laws regarding elder abuse and ways of reporting it" were revealed to be the highest priority, and themes such as "human rights of the elderly" and "types and cases of elder abuse" received the second priority.

Conclusions: Courses regrading elder abuse that include the educational needs, identified the by undergraduate nursing students, are required to improve the professional ability of nurses who care for the elderly.

Keywords: Borich; Educational needs; Elder abuse; IPA; Korea; Locus for focus model; Nursing students.