Association between ageing knowledge and willingness to care for older adults among nursing students in China: the mediating role of attitude towards older adults

Little is known about the mediating effect of attitude toward older adults on the relationship between aging knowledge and willingness to care for older adults. We applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the knowledge-attitude-behavior (KAB) model as theoretical frameworks to examine the mediation effect of attitude toward older adults. Data from 388 Chinese nursing students were analyzed. The Willingness to Care for Older People (WCOP) scale, Kogan's Attitude toward Older People scale (KAOP) and Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ) were utilized to assess willingness, attitude and aging knowledge, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22. 0 with the PROCESS macro. Bootstrap methods were used to obtain the significance of mediating effects. The study showed that aging knowledge was significantly associated with willingness to care for older adults and that attitude toward older adults mediated the association. Bootstrapping method confirmed the significance of the indirect effect of aging knowledge through attitude, accounting for 18.9% of the total willingness variance. Overall, based on the TPB and the KAB theoretical framework, our data support the notion that improving aging knowledge and attitude may contribute to improve the willingness to aged care among nursing students.