Project Director

Wick, Kristina

Department Examiner

Smith, Chris

Department

Dept. of Nursing

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, ageism is defined as the stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination against people based on their age (WHO, 2019). Ageism can be found everywhere and has been normalized in modern day society. Ageism can result in older adults being overlooked for jobs and portrayed in a negative way in the media (WHO, 2019). Many researchers have explored the topic of ageism and the lack of quality in dementia care by nurses (Chaston, 2010), but there is a gap in existing literature related to the root cause. For example, (Chan, 2008) highlights areas of concern regarding dementia care quality and explores the implications for nursing practice but does not actually identify where ageism or bias begins and how to prevent it at an educational level. As the population ages, the number of persons living with dementia is expected to increase drastically, and without proper education on how to best take care of this vulnerable population, the number of nurses trained in gerontology will continue to decline. The purpose of this research is to identify if this type of ageism exists in nursing students, if it changes with nursing education, and how to prevent it from happening among future generations of nurses.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my thesis director, Dr. Kristina Wick, for her unwavering support and guidance throughout the entire process.

Degree

B. S. N.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Date

12-2021

Subject

Dementia—Patients—Care; Geriatric nursing--Study and teaching; Gerontology; Nursing students--Attitudes

Keyword

gerontology; dementia; education; cognitive impairment

Discipline

Geriatric Nursing

Document Type

Theses

Extent

i, 111 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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