Investigation on the willingness of undergraduate nursing students in vocational colleges to work in elderly care institutions

To understand the current status of the willingness of undergraduate nursing students in vocational colleges to work in elderly care institutions under the integrated medical and elderly care model, and to analyze the influencing factors, providing a reference for the training of suitable talents for this model in Chinas vocational nursing education. A cluster sampling method was used to select three classes of first-year nursing students at the vocational college level, and 116 valid questionnaires were collected. The investigation included a general information questionnaire, a questionnaire on the willingness to work in elderly care institutions under the integrated medical and elderly care model, an elderly knowledge questionnaire (FAQ), and an elderly attitude scale (KAOP). Among the 116 first-year nursing students, 60 (51.7%) expressed willingness to work in elderly care institutions under the integrated model, 9 (7.8%) were unwilling, and 47 (40.5%) were uncertain. The average score on the elderly knowledge scale was 13.243.12, and the average score on the elderly attitude scale was 132.6820.56. Factors influencing nursing students willingness to work in elderly care institutions included gender, whether they had obtained a 1+X elderly care certificate, whether they understood the integrated medical and elderly care model, whether they had experience interacting with the elderly, FAQ scores, and KAOP scores. The willingness of first-year nursing students in vocational colleges to work in elderly care institutions under the integrated medical and elderly care model is moderate. Schools should actively promote school-enterprise cooperation, strengthen students understanding of the industry status of integrated elderly care institutions, and provide active guidance and education to encourage students to engage with elderly care content.