Graduating nurse students’ interest in older people nursing—A cross-sectional survey in six European countries

Abstract

Background: Countries vary in the number of qualified nurses employed in older adult services. Moreover, students’ views of older people nursing as a career differ internationally. Studying future nurses and their career intentions for the field is warranted to meet the increased nurse workforce expectations in terms of quantity and competence. Aim: To analyse graduating nurse students’ interest in older people nursing and the factors associated with it. Methods: A cross-sectional multicountry survey design was applied. Data were collected between May 2018 and March 2019 from several educational institutions in Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania and Spain. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to recruit graduating nurse students (n = 1796). The data were collected with a structured questionnaire comprising background factors and the Willingness sub-scale (six items) of the Students’ Interest in Nursing Older People Scale. Data were analysed using a linear mixed model including relevant background variables. Results: Overall, students’ interest in older people nursing was low (score 20.5, on a 0‒100 scale). Among the studied countries, Spanish students scored the highest (38.8) and German students the lowest (3.6). Students’ interest in older people nursing was associated with country (p