The Effect of Elderly Care Training Given to Nursing Students on Ageism

geism is a multidimensional term that includes different attitudes, prejudices, behaviors and actions shown to a person simply because of his or her age. Today, in most societies in the world, elderly individuals are discriminated against. This discrimination stems from the negative attitudes of family members and society in general towards older individuals and aging. In most societies, old age and the changes that occur with aging are generally viewed negatively. Old age is seen as a process of decline in productivity, competence, individuality and independence in all areas of life. The elderly and old age can be viewed with stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Age discrimination includes beliefs and attitudes that can turn into discriminatory actions. Words synonymous with being old/aging generally carry negative content. These are generally negative situations such as dementia, weakness, disease, aging, deterioration, wear and tear, and inability to function. This research was designed as a randomized controlled study to determine the effect of elderly care training given to nursing students of a foundation university on their attitudes towards ageism. The population of the research consists of 150 first and second year nursing students of a foundation university in Istanbul between the 2023-2024 academic years. Power analysis was performed using the G\*Power (v3.1.9) program to determine the sample size. It was calculated that there should be at least 26 participants in each group. The sample was planned with 120 students (60 experimental and 60 control groups) who met the study criteria and agreed to participate in the study. Number, percentage, mean and standard deviation will be used as descriptive statistical methods in the evaluation of the data. A normal distribution test will be applied to determine whether the research variables have a normal distribution. In case the research variables do not show normal distribution (p\<0.05). In the analysis of variables for which the normality assumption is not met, non-parametric analysis methods Mann Whitney U (for comparisons of two groups) and Kruskal Wallis (for comparisons of three or more groups) will be used. Spearman correlation analysis will be performed to determine the relationship between the continuous variables of the research.