Yaşlı Bakım Ve Paramedik Öğrencilerinin Yaşlı Ayrımcılığına Yönelik Tutumları

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of elderly care and first and emergency aid (paramedic) students toward ageism. A descriptive study was conducted with 291 students enrolled in the elderly care and paramedic program in the Health Services Vocational School (HSVS) of a state university in the 2020-2021 academic year. The data in the study were collected using the "Student Information Form" and "Positive and Negative Elderly Discrimination Scale (PNAS)”. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 program. Of the 291 students participating in the study, 70.8% are female, 29.2% are male, the mean age is 20.5±2.86, 75.3% are enrolled elderly care, 24.7% are enrolled paramedic, 59.1% of them live in the same house with the elderly, 28.2% are grandparents. The mean of the positive elderly discrimination total score of the students participating in the study was found to be 50.12 ± 7.04, whereas the negative elderly discrimination total score mean was found to be 40.19 ± 16.16. There was no significant difference between the departments they studied and the total score of Positive and Negative Elderly Discrimination (p> 0.05). As a result, the elderly care and paramedic students participating in the study have a high positive attitude toward the elderly and it was observed that their negative attitude was low.