Nurses' Knowledge and Attitude toward the Elderly in Care Facilities for Old People

노인의료복지시설 간호사의 노인에 대한 지식 및 태도 조사

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine nurses' knowledge and attitude toward the elderly in medical welfare facilities for old people and identify the predictors of nurses's knowledge and attitude toward the elderly. Methods: The data were collected from 110 nurses by means of structured questionnaires. The structure survey was conducted to get the data from 83 medical welfare facilities for old people in Gwangju, Jeonnam and Jeonbuk provinces from December 15, 2006 to February 5, 2007. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS WIN 12.0, which uses descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: The average knowledge score was $8.13{\pm}2.65$ out of 20. The average attitude score was $87.62{\pm}13.74$ out of 140. This score was classified as a neutral range. Respondents statistically showed significant differences in their knowledge of the elderly on their co-living experience and co-living period. Respondents statistically showed significant differences in their attitude of the elderly on their age, religion, work experience, work place and significant co-living experience. Conclusion: Nurses' knowledge and attitude toward the elderly were not significantly correlated.