Nov 07, 2024
Educator’s role in preventing ageism
- Špela Mihevc1,
- Anja Grušovnik Mušič2,
- Danica Rotar Pavlič3
- 1University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Occupational Therapy;
- 2Elderly Home Škofljica;
- 3University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine,
Protocol Citation: Špela Mihevc, Anja Grušovnik Mušič, Danica Rotar Pavlič 2024. Educator’s role in preventing ageism. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.81wgbr19ylpk/v1
Manuscript citation:
Mihevc Š, Grušovnik Mušič A, Rotar Pavlič D (2024) Educator’s role in preventing ageism. PLoS ONE 19(11): e0313137. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313137
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: November 04, 2024
Last Modified: November 07, 2024
Protocol Integer ID: 111509
Keywords: online, survey, Likert scale, spss, statistics, Cronbach's alpha, Shapiro‒Wilk, Kruskal‒Wallis, the Mann‒Whitney, Dunn‒Bonferroni, post-hoc, t-test,
Abstract
Aims: This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the educator’s role in imparting knowledge to healthcare students regarding ageism in Slovenia.
Methods: Educators in Slovenian secondary nursing schools and in medical and health science faculties were asked to evaluate their practical experience in working with older people, their knowledge of gerontology and working with older people, and their attitude toward working with older people using an online questionnaire. They were also asked to rate their opinion about ageism on a Likert scale, along with reasons for ageism, skills that would help reduce ageism, their opinion about trainees’ attitudes toward older people, and their assessment of certain facts about planning training. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested using Cronbach’s alpha. The Kruskal‒Wallis test, Mann‒Whitney U test, and independent samples t-test were used to determine differences between the groups.
Results: The participants fully agree that the knowledge imparted could contribute to reducing age discrimination among healthcare students. Those that responded that their gerontological knowledge is good had significantly higher ranked responses regarding the reasons for ageism. On average, they agreed with the statements about planning their teaching activities and facilitating the acquisition of knowledge.
Conclusions: Ageism is a challenge for modern society that requires a comprehensive approach to prevent and combat this form of discrimination. Awareness-raising, education, and policy change can create a fairer and more respectful society for all generations. Educators are insufficiently aware of their role in preventing ageism. Practitioners recognize it when they work directly with students. There are opportunities to update curricula and teaching methods.
Before start
This research was carried out as part of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Medicine. The Medical Ethics Committee gave its approval for the study on 13 April 2023 (ethics review no. 0120-74/2023/3). The questionnaire was developed as part of the dissertation Dimensions of Ageism–A Qualitative Exploration among Older Adults and Healthcare Workers.
The literature review revealed an important theme regarding the role of educators in imparting knowledge to future healthcare workers to prevent ageism in healthcare organisations. To gain a better understanding of the topic, five sets of questions were developed. To achieve more analytical objective we wanted to find out the difference between attitude, knowledge and experience between the 5 sets of questions.
Questionnaire developing
Questionnaire developing
Literature review
Developing five sets of questions (Likert scale)
Additional questions (attitude, knowledge and experience)
Demographic questions
Testing questionnaires on 10 participans (paper-based)
Adapting questions for better understanding
Creating an online questionnaire
Data collection
Data collection
Determining the data collection period.
E-mailing questionnaires
Re-sending questionnaires
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean values, and standard deviations)
Cronbach’s alpha (internal consistency of the questionnaire)
Mean of the responses for each set
Normality of data distribution (The Shapiro‒Wilk test)
Differences between more than two groups (Kruskal‒Wallis test)
If significant (Dunn‒Bonferroni post-hoc method)
If significant differences between more than two groups (Dunn‒Bonferroni post-hoc)
Differences between two groups (Mann‒Whitney U test/Independent samples test)
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Acknowledgements
ŠM made a substantial contribution to the concept and design of the work, and the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data. AGM contributed to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data. DRP led the supervision, participated in the design of the research, and contributed to the discussion and conclusions.