Curriculum, Theory and Practice: Exploring Nurses' and Nursing Students' Knowledge of, Attitudes Towards and Self- Efficacy in Caring for The Elderly in Canada
Abstract
This study explores nurses' and nursing students' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy in caring for the elderly and addresses the factors contributing to nurses' perspectives. It also examines the nursing curriculum's contributions to nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy and provides suggestions to reconfigure the nursing curriculum for comprehensive geriatric nursing care. A mixed-method research design was used to address the purpose of the study. The results revealed that most nurses possess neutral attitudes toward caring for geriatric patients, and their knowledge ranged from average to above-average levels; most nurses had an above-average level of self-efficacy. Results also showed a statistically significant positive correlation between nurses' attitudes and knowledge level and between self-efficacy and knowledge level. Similarly, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between nurses' attitudes and self-efficacy and between self-efficacy and years of experience. This study demonstrated the positive impact of the Canadian nursing curriculum on nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy.