Research On Willingness Of Nursing Students In Hunan Province To Work On Geriatric Nursing And Influencing Factor

Objective:To investigate nursing students’willingness of care toward elder people in colleges and universities of Hunan Province and analyze its influencing factors,so as to provide references for the training of nursing talents for the elderly in China.Methods:The method of stratified-cluster random sampling was adopted.Firstly,5 medical colleges and universities of Hunan Province were chosen from different levels of first-tier,second-tier,third-tier,and higher vocational colleges by stratified random sampling;secondly,26 classes were selected from different grades by stratified sampling;and finally a total of 1250nursing students were enrolled in the survey by cluster sampling.Nursing students’willingness of care toward elder people and its influencing factors were studied through using basic information questionnaires,facts on aging quiz 1（FAQ1）,Kogan’attitudes toward old people（KAOP）and questionnaires about nursing students’willingness of care toward elder people.The software of SPSS 19.0 was used for data analysis.The statistical methods included descriptive statistics,t-test,variance analysis,Kruskal-Wallis H test,multinomial logistic regression analysis,Pearson correlation analysis,etc.Results:（1）The mean score of FAQ1 scale of 1213 nursing students was（11.48±3.16）.There were significant differences（P<0.01,P<0.05）in nursing students’knowledge about elder people based on the following factors:different age（F=8.560,P=0.000）,different educational level（F=6.672,P=0.000）,different grade（F=4.523,P=0.012）,learning geriatric nursing courses or not（t=-3.991,P=0.000）,and completing internships or not（t=-1.995,P=0.046）.（2）The mean score of KAOP scale of 1213 nursing students was（154.36±19.53）.There were significant differences（P<0.01,P<0.05）in nursing students’attitudes toward elder people based on the following factors:different gender（t=-2.046,P=0.041）,living with elder people or not（F=7.390,P=0.000）,relationship with elder people（F=8.268,P=0.000）,and family members’attitudes toward elder people（F=7.973,P=0.000）.（3）The Pearson correlation analysis indicated that nursing students’knowledge about elder people was positively correlated with their attitudes toward elder people（r=0.195,P=0.001）.（4）Among the 1213 nursing students,47.8%of them were willing to work on geriatric nursing,while 8.2%were not,and 44.0%were not sure.（5）The descriptive analysis of questionnaires about nursing students’willingness of care toward elder people indicated that the items with nursing students’lowest willingness,in order,were:promotion system differing from that of hospital nurses;low salary;few schoolmates working on geriatric nursing;basic work contents such as daily care,basic nursing,rehabilitation nursing,mental nursing,etc.;and working places such as aged care facilities,communities,etc.（6）The single factor analysis showed that among the 1213 nursing students,there were significant differences（P<0.01,P<0.05）in their willingness of care toward elder people based on the following factors:different origin of students（H=8.642,P=0.000）,KAOP score（H=4.548,P=0.033）,different grade（H=7.662,P=0.022）,living with elder people（H=16.106,P=0.003）,relationship with elder people（H=25.769,P=0.000）,family members’attitudes toward elder people（H=21.961,P=0.000）,having experience in being cared by elder people（H=8.556,P=0.003）,having experience in caring elder people（H=35.927,P=0.000）,first choice（H=13.446,P=0.000）,and learning geriatric nursing courses（H=13.476,P=0.000）.（7）According to the multinomial logistic regression analysis,factors that were entered the regression model included the following five independent variables:origin of students（X₁）,grade（X₂）,first choice（X₃）,family members’attitudes toward elder people（X₆）,and having experience in caring elder people（X₈）.Conclusions:Nursing students’willingness of care toward elder people in colleges and universities of Hunan Province is at a low level,and its main influencing factors include origin of students,grade,first choice,family members’attitudes toward elder people,and having experience in caring elder people or not.