Predicting undergraduate nursing students' willingness to care for older adults : a multicenter cross-sectional study in Asia

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the willingness of nursing students in Hong Kong and Mainland China to care for the elderly and to identify the factors influencing their willingness. Design: A correlational and cross-sectional design. Methods: A four-part self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect data from the undergraduate nursing students in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Results: The total sample consisted of 820 nursing students, with 481 students in Hong Kong and 339 students in Mainland China. The scores of willingness to care for older people of the two groups were similar (mean score 4.68 versus 4.44), and no significant difference was observed between the students in the two regions (p = .071). A very low proportion of the nursing students in Hong Kong (7.7%) and those in Mainland China (3.6%) ranked caring for older people as their first choice of work. No salient predictors of willingness to care for older people existed for the nursing students in Mainland China.