Attitudes towards caring for older people: literature review and methodology: In the first of two articles, Angela Kydd and Deidre Wild discuss how the specialty could be made a more desirable career choice

Kydd, Angela; Wild, Deidre

Abstract

Care of older people is often referred to as a ‘Cinderella’ service and is not seen as an attractive career option in health care, but with the global population continuing to age, caring for this group will become increasingly important.

This article outlines the literature that formed the basis for two studies investigating the attitudes of healthcare staff towards working with older people, including respondents’ perceptions of other healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward this important area of work.

The Multifactorial Attitudes Questionnaire was designed to examine five major themes identified from the literature: ageism; learning environment; working environment; professional esteem; and specialist status.

This study is presented in two parts: this article discusses the literature and the design of the questionnaire. The second article, to be published in a subsequent issue of the journal, presents the results from two studies done in Scotland, the first in 1999, with a replication study in 2009.

Citation

Kydd, A. & Wild, D. (2013). Attitudes towards caring for older people: literature review and methodology: In the first of two articles, Angela Kydd and Deidre Wild discuss how the specialty could be made a more desirable career choice. Nursing Older People. 25. (3). 22-27. doi:10.7748/nop2013.04.25.3.22.e769. ISSN 1472-0795.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 21, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Apr 1, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013-04
• Deposit Date: Aug 5, 2016
• Journal: Nursing Older People
• Print ISSN: 1472-0795
• Electronic ISSN: 2047-8941
• Publisher: RCN Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 22-27
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7748/nop2013.04.25.3.22.e769
• Keywords: Attitudes to older people, gerontology, professional esteem, specialist status
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/328992