Knowledge and attitudes of a group of university students toward sexuality in aged people

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate students’ knowledge and attitudes about aging and sexuality. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 396 nursing and midwifery students in Adnan Menderes University Aydin Health School between 23 May 2011- 3 June 2011. The aging sexuality knowledge and attitudes scale in the Elderly (ASKAS) was used in order to evaluate students’ knowledge and attitudes. It was found that there wasn’t a significant correlation between the student’s acceptance of sexual intercourse and their knowledge about sexuality in elder people (t=1.63; p=0.11). On the other hand, students who thought that older people could have sexual intercourse were found to be more tolerant attitudes towards elderly sexuality(t=3.90; p=0.000). It was observed that the more the students had knowledge about elder sexuality, the more they had tolerant attitudes; however there was a negative correlation between age and knowledge/attitudes (r=0.625, p=0.000; r= -0.365, p= 0.003; r=-0.262, p= 0.09). No significant relation was found between ASKAS and other variables.