COMPARISON OF NURSING-STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY IN NORWAYAND THE UNITED-STATES

Two-hundred and seven nursing students in Norway and the United States were surveyed using Kogan's (1961) Attitude Toward Old People Scale, visual analogue scales, a request for descriptive paragraphs, and demo graphic data questions. Although the two groups' mean Kogan scores wer e very similar-181 for the United States and 182 for Norway-correlatio ns between the other variables and Kogan scores were quite different b etween the two groups. Level in the educational program, past family e xperience with the elderly, number of past experiences with the elderl y, amount of lecture time spent learning about the elderly, amount of clinical time spent with the elderly, and the choice to work with the elderly were all correlated with Kogan scores in the American subjects . For Norwegian and U.S. subjects, as the number of past experiences i ncreased, the description of past experiences with the elderly was mor e positive. This correlation was statistically significant. The majori ty of both Norwegian and American subjects described a positive experi ence they had with an elderly person in a. written paragraph, although they described society's perception toward the elderly as negative in a second paragraph. It is concluded that strategies for leaching agin g content, what content to teach, the proper conduct of clinical exper iences, and the valuing of work with the elderly are important conside rations if students are to choose the elderly as the focus of their nu rsing practice.