Effectiveness of a Sexuality Workshop for Nurse Aides in Long-Term Care Facilities

Background: In long-term care facilities, there are frequent conflicts related to elderly residents’ sexual expression. Nurse aides usually handle such conflicts with negative or negligent attitudes; therefore, elderly sexuality is considered “problem behavior” and is stigmatized. Objectives: This study aimed to improve elderly residents’ quality of sexual life by enhancing nurse aides’ knowledge and attitudes toward elderly sexuality through sexuality workshops. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 64 nurse aides and 58 residents, who were divided into two groups, i.e., an experimental group and a control group, according to the floor where the residents resided. The nurse aides in the experimental group participated in sexuality workshops and were compared with those in the control group with respect to their knowledge of and attitudes toward sexuality; the residents’ quality of sexual life was also compared between groups. Results: Compared with the control group, in the experimental group, the nurse aides’ knowledge of and attitudes toward elderly sexuality as well as the residents’ quality of sexual life significantly and continually improved after the sexuality workshops. Conclusion: The four-week sexuality workshop is effective and may be used as an example in developing occupational education programs regarding elderly sexuality in long-term care facilities.

Relationship Between Nursing Students’ Attitudes Toward Elderly Discrimination and Opinions About Home Care Services

The determination of nursing students’ attitudes toward elderly discrimination and their opinions about home care is important in that it will affect the quality of care provided to elderly individuals in their homes by the students in the future. For this reason, the aim of this study was to determine relationship between nursing students’ attitudes toward elderly discrimination and their opinions about home care services. This descriptive study was conducted with a total of 318 students from a university nursing faculty during the fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year. Data for the study were collected using the Home Care Services Evaluation Questionnaire and the Ageism Attitude Scale. It was found that there was a positively significant but weak relationship between the students’ age discrimination scale total score and the positive discrimination subdimension score, and their opinions about home care services ( p < .001). Students’ attitudes toward elderly discrimination were found to make a statistically significant contribution to their opinions about home care services. It was ascertained that students’ attitudes toward elderly discrimination affected their opinions about home care services. It is recommended that geriatric nursing and home care nursing lectures be included in the nursing education curriculum, awareness of the importance of the concept of old age and elderly care be increased by establishing internship fields for students in institutions that provide home care for the elderly, and positive attitudes toward the elderly be promoted.

Gendered Perceptions of Aging: An Examination of College Students

Few studies examine how the gendered nature of aging impacts young adults—shaping their images of later life, attitudes toward elderly persons, aging anxieties, and conceptions of the start of “old age.” We examine gender differences in young adults' views of elders and the aging process using a survey of college students and content analysis of student-drawn sketches of elders ( N = 391). Results indicate that both genders hold more positive images of elderly women than men; however, they view “old age” as beginning at a younger age for women. In addition, we find that, compared with men, women report later starts of “old age” for both genders and more favorable attitudes toward elders, but also greater aging anxiety.