An International Effort Examining Nursing Student Attitudes Toward Older People

Variations in culture and heritage can greatly impact an individual's beliefs, practices, and attitudes and may influence healthcare. The purpose of this research was to better understand the attitudes of student nurses toward older adults in the United States and Costa Rica. An exploratory quantitative research design was utilized for this study. Data were collected using the Kogan Old Persons scale from American and Costa Rican pre-licensure nursing students. Results revealed that total scores were very similar between students on the Kogan positive scale and the Kogan negative scale. Half of the individual items revealed significant differences between students of different cultures. Overall, nursing students reported positive attitudes toward older people with individual differences found between nationality and individual items. Understanding cultural variances and commonalities on student nurse attitudes toward older adults is important to the delivery of culturally diverse nursing education and culturally congruent care.