Who wants to work with older people? Swedish student nurses' willingness to work in elderly care—A questionnaire study

SummaryBackgroundThe aging population is a globally recognized challenge for the health care service. The growing number of older people will probably lead to increased demands for nurses working in elderly care. Clinical practice has been shown to have an impact on how student nurses perceive a particular field of nursing.ObjectivesTo compare perceptions of the clinical learning environment in nursing homes among students considering a career in aged care or not, and to examine the difference in age, gender and previous working experience as health care assistants in elderly care between the two groups.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study using the Swedish version of the Clinical Learning Environment and Nurse Teacher evaluation scale.MethodsConsecutive sampling was performed over three semesters from September 2011 to December 2012. The survey was conducted with 183 student nurses. Mann–Whitney U-test was used to examine differences in relation to two groups namely student nurses who did or did not consider to work in elderly care. A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine the difference in age, gender and previous working experience between the two groups.ResultsThe analysis leaned towards an overall positive evaluation of the clinical learning environment with more positive values for students considering a career. There were no significant differences between younger students (18–23) and older students (24–50) regarding willingness to work in elderly care or not. Neither was any significant difference displayed between students, based on gender nor for previous work experience.ConclusionAge, gender and previous work experiences as health care assistants did not impact on students' willingness to work in elderly care. Future studies need to acknowledge the complexity of why student nurses choose a particular pathway in nursing by longitudinal studies following cohorts of students during the course of the nursing programme.