Examining The Attitudes Towards the Elderly of Home Care And Patient Transport Service Personnel Within A Local Government

Objective: Older people have the right to be cared for in society with respect and dignity. Positive/negative attitudes towards the elderly may affect the quality of care and service. In this study, it was aimed to determine the attitudes of the personnel in charge of home care services and patient transportation services towards the elderly, which are increasing in Turkey today. Method: The descriptive cross-sectional study included 66 personnel (health and support staff). Participants were administered a data collection tool consisting of a general information form and the KOGAN Attitudes Towards the Elderly Scale. Results: The participants had been working in this position for 30.53±13.94 months, 45.5% of them were female, 77.2% of them had at least a high school diploma, and the average number of elderly they communicated with in a day was 9.61±4.77. It was found that the total score of the KOGAN elderly attitude scale of the patient transportation service personnel was significantly higher than the home care services group (p0.05). Conclusion: In this study, it was determined that the attitudes of home care and patient transport personnel towards the elderly were at a moderate level. This attitude may be related to the fact that the elderly group served are long-term care patients and bedridden, regardless of personnel characteristics.