A Comparative Study of Caring Behavior for Elderly Patients of Police Nursing Students

Abstract

This research aimed to study and compare the caring behavior towards the elderly patients of nursing students at Police Nursing College. The purposive sampling was 180 police nursing students, academic year 2020, second, third and fourth year. The research instrument was the caring behavior questionnaire, developed by Porranee Luengarun et al. The content validity index was reported at .89 The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was .95 Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics in mean and standard deviation. Mean difference analysis with One - way ANOVA and Post Hoc test.

The results were found that the caring behavior for elderly patients of Police Nursing Students were at very good level (M = 4.62, S.D. = .39). The highest average score was the second year, followed by third and fourth year respectively (M = 4.69, 4.67 and 4.48 S.D. = .31, .41 and .43 respectively). The caring behavior towards elderly patients of nursing students in all 3 years had a statistically significantly difference in means at P < .05. When considering each aspect, it was found that there were 3 statistically significantly different components, these were mental and spiritual support between second and fourth year (M = 4.71, 4.46 S.D. = .35, .47) and between third and fourth year (M = 4.73, 4.46 S.D. = .44, .47).The effective communication and respect were difference between second and fourth year (M = 4.76, 4.51 S.D. = .32, .45; M = 4.77, 4.59 S.D. = .26, .41) Therefore, nursing education programs should provide instruction that encourage students to have the opportunity to take care closely and communicate more with patients in practicum nursing.