PREDICTORS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD 3 TARGET GROUPS OF ELDERLY PERSONS - THE WELL, THE PHYSICALLY ILL, AND PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

This research compared attitudes of 143 nursing home employees toward three hypothetical target groups of older adults: well elderly persons , physically ill elderly persons, and elderly persons with Alzheimer's disease. Staff provided successively less positive evaluations of phy sically ill elderly persons and elderly persons with Alzheimer's disea se compared to well elderly persons. Age, education, and contact with grandparents differentially predicted positive evaluations toward well and physically ill older adults. Self-efficacy was a significant pred ictor of positive evaluations across all target groups. Findings sugge st that interventions designed to increase staff members' feelings of self-efficacy may lead to more positive evaluations of elderly clients and, ultimately, improved quality of care.