Abstract:

The study was conducted as a descriptive research in order to determine the attitudes of social worker candidates regarding elder discrimination. The study was conducted between February and March 2020 with a total of 165 students studying at Anadolu University Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Social Work. In the data collection, "Socio-demographic Information Form" and "Age Discrimination Attitude Scale (YATÖ)" were used. In the analysis of the data; Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U Tests were used. The total score average of the participants is 64.92 ± 6.66. When the subtitle analysis of the scale was examined, it was found that limiting the life of the elderly was 18.55 ± 3.66, the positive discrimination against the elderly was 33.73 ± 4.26, and the negative discrimination sub-dimension mean score was 31.19 ± 6.50. A significant association was observed in limiting the life of the elderly according to the gender variable, and it was concluded that male individuals had a higher average score of limiting the life of the elderly. The condition of living in the same house before with the elderly person is an effective factor in limiting the life of the elderly person. It was determined that the attitudes of the students of the Department of Social Work participating in the study were negative towards the elderly and that the attitudes of women students and students who had previously lived with the older person were more positive.

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