Assessing ageist behaviours in undergraduate nursing students using the Relating to Older People Evaluation (ROPE) survey

Abstract

Aim: To describe the prevalence of ageist behaviours amongst first-year undergraduate nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design. The Relating to Older People Evaluation (ROPE) survey was administered to first-year undergraduate nursing students in one Australian university. Results: One hundred and eighty-five students responded (response rate (RR) 85.3%). Up to 97.8% of students reported engaging in some ageist behaviours, with positive ageist behaviours ranked highest. Up to 87.5% of the cohort reported engaging in negative behaviours, such as talking slow and loud to an older person. Most students (63.2%) indicated that they would work in aged care in the future. Conclusion: Nursing students report engaging in ageist behaviours that can have a negative effect on their future relationships with older patients. The ROPE survey can be used to make collective ageist behaviours explicit to students. Combining explicit collective information on ageist behaviours with educational strategies is proposed to address ageism in undergraduate nursing curricula.