Date of Award
Spring 1978
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
Abstract
This study examines the morale of the nursing-home aged as a function of select variations in their social environments. The objectives are to determine the effect that contacts with nursing students, who are enrolled in a one-semester college course in gerontological nursing, have on the morale of elderly nursing-home residents. The morale levels of 36 aged subjects in one nursing home, which comprised the experimental group, and a comparable group in another nursing home, which comprised the control group, were measured by scales contained in an interview schedule at the beginning and at the end of the semester. As part of the study, the attitudes of student nurses toward the aged were also examined and measured by questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the semester. The findings indicate that the morale of the elderly subjects was not increased after one semester's interactions with student nurses. The attitudes of student nurses toward the aged, as an outcome of classroom and direct experience with aging, did not change substantially,