Gender analysis of nurses' attitude towards care of the elderly with dementia in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study assessed nurses’ knowledge and attitudes by gender toward the care of elderly patients with dementia and explored gender differences in attitudes and associated factors in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife. The study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed method design to obtain data from 100 nurses selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data analysis was done at univariate, bivariate, and multivariate levels with a significance at P < .05. Findings revealed that a majority of the nurses have good knowledge and attitudes toward the care of elderly patients with dementia. Previous experience in a specialized unit (Odd = 2.879, CI = 0.013–8.287, P = .047) was the main predictor for the nurses’ attitude.

KEYWORDS:

• Elderly patients with dementia
• gender analysis
• nurses’ attitudes

Acknowledgments

The authors hereby acknowledge the Ethics and Research Committee of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, for the permission given to conduct this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.