Betul Ozen
Gradual increase of the elderly population and the increasing chronic and complex conditions increase the workload of primary healthcare. When considering that the nurses to graduate choose community care constrictedly while choosing their career; encouraging them to choose their career in primary healthcare in providing elderly care may ease the workload of primary healthcare. The aim of this study is to investigate home visit experiences of the fourth-year nursing students with the elderly individuals within the scope of public health nursing internship and their attitudes towards the elderly. In the study, qualitative and quantitative designs were used. This descriptive case study was conducted using the mixed method. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected via the ‘Attitudes towards the Elderly Scale’ and deep semi-structured interviews, respectively. In order to conduct the study; Ethics Committee approval (no: 27112018-92) and institutional permission were obtained. Findings: Among the students, 78.1% were female and 89.0% were in the age range of 21-23 years. It was determined that attitudes of 20.6% of the intern students towards the elderly were negative/slightly negative and attitudes of 70.5% were slightly positive. It was found that attitudes of the students, who had elderly individuals in their families and resided in the rural area, towards the elderly were significantly positive. In home visit experiences with the elderly individuals; it was determined that majority of the students liked home visits, but felt weak and light-headed, found elderly care too complex, did not intend to work in primary healthcare services after graduation for the elderly.
