Özet:

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of role playing alone and role playing and simulation with aged simulation suit together on empathizing with the older people, and positive attitudes towards them among nursing and medical students. Methods: The study was carried out in the pre-test post-test experimental design, with e participation of 64 nursing and medical students. All students were given a course on empathizing with the older people; and students were asked to fill out the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and Kogan's Attitude Towards Older People Scale. Then the experimental group used an aged simulation suit (n: 34). After putting on the aged simulation suit the students fulfilled a set of tasks that were focused on three scenarios related to activities of daily life (nutrition, physical activity, going to the bathroom, etc.). After completing the tasks, the students were asked to fill out the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and Kogan's Attitude Towards Older People Scale again. Later, in-depth interviews were held with students through a semi-structured interview form. The quantitative data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) and SAS software (Version 9.3; PROC MIXED SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). Qualitative data analysis was performed with MAXQDA software (version 12). Themes and codes were specified for content analysis. The Shapiro-Wilks test was conducted to examine the normal distribution of variables, and descriptive statistics, independent sample t test or Mann-Whitney U Test were utilized for data analyses. Statistical significance was accepted at p<0.05. Results: The mean empathy scores of both of the nursing and medical students differed between the experimental and control groups. The post-intervention scores significantly increased in both of the experimental and control groups compared to pre-intervention scores. The changes in the mean older people attitude scores of the students varied regarding the school and the study groups. a In the interviews the students expressed that they could feel the physical incapability of the older people with the aged simulation suit and they experienced the emotional aspect of empathy further in role playing. Students stated that positive changes might occur in their behavior towards the older people by the end of the course. Conclusions: The findings of the study suggest that role playing alone and role playing, and aged simulation suit together support each other in terms of showing positive attitudes and empathic approach to the older people. 

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