The Effect of Teaching Fundamentals of Geriatric Life on Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes toward Aging

Nurses are always involved with caring for elderly patients. They need to increase their knowledge and skills in the field of aging to provide effective care to elderly patients. Moreover, attitudes of nurses affect the quality of care for elderly people. Some interventions such as education are effective tools for improving nurses' knowledge and attitudes to better understand the problems of the elderly. The present study aims at determining the effect of teaching fundamentals of geriatric life on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward aging.

This was a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest with control group study. It was performed on 91 nurses working in Meybod (44 nurses) and Ardakan Hospitals (47 nurses). Training sessions on fundamentals of geriatric life were conducted for the experimental group. The training program consisted of five training sessions in the field of geriatrics . Data collection instruments included: Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz, and Kogan's Attitude Toward Older People Scale, which were completed three times before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention for both groups. 

There was no significant difference in knowledge between the two groups before the intervention (p = 0.792). Yet, the knowledge score immediately and two months after the intervention showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p > 0.01). The mean score of attitude before intervention was no significant difference between groups (p = 0.069). However, there was a significant difference in attitude score immediately and two months after the intervention between the experimental and control groups (p > 0.01).

Teaching fundamentals of geriatric nursing to nurses improved their knowledge and attitudes toward the problems and needs of the elderls. Using retraining courses in the field of aging is recommended for nurses.