Effect of the Educational Intervention on the Attitude and Practice of Finalist Student Nurses Towards the Care of the Hospitalised Elderly in Uganda
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Date
2024-04-09
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Abstract
Background to the study:
Ugandan hospitals like most countries worldwide have a challenge with caring for elderly patients yet elderly population is increasing. Most of the patients admitted to hospitals are the elderly, (65 years and above) and majority are admitted with chronic conditions and are at high risk for functional decline (Brauwer, Corrette, Boland, Verschuren, & Hoore, 2017). Seventeen percent of those admitted while independently mobile end up either requiring assistance to walk on discharge or with detrimental effects of hospitalization (Inderpal, 2016). Many of these patients are discharged with activities of daily living function worse than the baseline function indicating lack of attendance to activities of daily living (Edemekong, Bomgaars, Sukumaran, & Levy, 2020). Nurses are reported to have negative attitude towards care of the elderly and therefore not correctly providing care to this category of patients.
Objectives:
The study aimed at determining the effect of the educational intervention on the attitude and practice of the finalist student nurses towards care of the hospitalised elderly in Uganda and compared their attitude and practice towards the care of the elderly with the basic information.
Methodology
A quansi experimental design, using pretest and posttest single group method was used to determine the attitude and practice of the finalist student nurses towards care of the elderly in relation to activities of daily living. A sample size of seventy participants was selected through simple random sampling. The intervention involved training the finalist student nurses in the use of the Katz tool for assessing activities of daily living. Quantitative data was collected using self-administered questionnaires before and after the intervention. Data was analyzed in SPSS package Version 26.0 at both descriptive and inferential levels.
Results
All the selected participants participated. They had some information on the care of the elderly 42 (60%) and most of them received it from the clinical area. All had ever nursed elderly patients. The attitude towards care of the elderly in relation to activities of daily living improved from negative to positive for most participants. They were positive that it was vital to correctly assess the patient’s ADLS to determine the functional status and identify areas for intervention. They appreciated the Katz tool as a useful tool for the assessment.
After the intervention there was a significant change in the attitude towards the care of the elderly from 2.37 to 5.11 with p <0.001. They strongly agreed that nurses must have positive attitude to be able to provide correct care to these patients. They appreciated the Katz tool as a useful tool for assessing the pts ADLS.
Conclusions and recommendations
The study results revealed that care of the elderly is a very important area of nursing care and that it requires positive attitude and skills for quality of care. The participants had some information on the care of the elderly which most of them acquired from the clinical area. They realised the importance of positive attitude towards care of the elderly and that negative attitude affects care provision and patient recovery.
The study recommends that nurse leaders and policymakers address care of the elderly as a specialty and to formalize training of nurses in the care of the elderly. They should advocate training of care providers emphasizing on positive attitude for them to be able to provide quality care to elderly. They should device effective ways of providing quality care like developing tools that can guide care providers to identify areas of care.