Nursing Students' Attitudes Toward the Elderly: A Systematic Review Based on Studies Conducted in Turkiye

The older population is increasing rapidly in the world and this increase brings along problems that need to be solved due to old age. Ageism, which is one of these problems, is a stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people on the basis of their age. Ageism has serious negative consequences for older people's health and well-being. Nursing is one of the main professions to care for older people and nursing students will be potential members of this profession in the future. For this reason, it is important to know nursing students' attitudes toward ageism and the factors affecting it. This study aims to determine nursing students' attitudes toward older adults by examining studies conducted in Turkiye. The review was conducted between September and November 2021 using search databases of Google Academics, PubMed, ProQuest, and Turkey Citation Index. In the search, the keywords "nursing students", "attitude towards elderlies", "elderly discrimination", "ageism," and "Turkey" were used in different combinations in Turkish and English. Of the 5,443 studies identified at baseline, 35 were included in the study. The sample of the studies consisted of 10,636 nursing students. In the studies reviewed, the Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS), the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (Kogan OP Scale), and the UCLA Geriatrics Attitudes (UCLA-GA) scale were used to assess ageism. According to the results of this systematic review, nursing students' attitudes toward the elderly were mostly positive, and various factors were associated with these attitudes. It is recommended to include courses on elderly health in the nursing undergraduate curriculum, to carry out projects to increase interaction with the elderly, and to conduct experimental studies aiming to demonstrate the effectiveness of various interventions to increase positive attitudes.