African-American nurses' attitudes toward older persons

Based on current demographic trends, more ethnic minority nurses will be caring for older adults in acute and community settings. Although elder care is adversely affected by ageist attitudes held by some nurses, the influence of race and nursing care setting on ageist attitudes has not been adequately investigated. The aims of this study were to describe the attitudes of African-American nurses toward older adults and to compare the attitudes of ethnic minority nurses working in hospital versus community settings. Using a comparative-descriptive design, more than half of the 720 (n = 720) randomly selected members of the National Black Nurses Association (N = 2,293) completed Kogan's Attitude Toward Old People Scale. Findings from this study suggested that African-American nurses expressed positive attitudes overall. Registered nurses and nurses with master's degrees displayed the most positive attitudes, while retired nurses and less educated nurses in acute-inpatient settings demonstrated the most negative attitudes. One conclusion from these data is that education regarding characteristics and needs of older adults should be provided to nurses in all settings, with emphasis placed on nurses with less education and nurses in acute-inpatient settings.