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Exploring Women’s Attitudes and Intentions to Seek Care from Nurse Practitioners across Different Age Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

Louise Wasylkiw ,
Odette N. Gould  and
Dusty Johnstone
Louise Wasylkiw*
Affiliation:
Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
Odette N. Gould
Affiliation:
Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
Dusty Johnstone
Affiliation:
University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
*
*Correspondence to: / Correspondance à : Louise Wasylkiw Department of Psychology Mount Allison University 49A York Street Sackville New Brunswick E4L 1C7 (lwasylkiw@mta.ca)
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Abstract

Because public acceptance is critical for the successful integration of nurse practitioners into the Canadian health care system, the current study explored how women of different ages perceive nurse practitioners. Middle-aged women held more positive views of health care professionals in general and were more likely to indicate that they would seek help from nurse practitioners compared to younger and older women. Across all three age groups, respondents were more likely to seek help from physicians than from nurse practitioners, especially for acute (versus preventive) health concerns.

Résumé

Puisque l’acceptation publique est essentielle à une intégration réussie des infirmières praticiennes dans le système de soins de santé canadien, la présente étude examine de quelle manière les femmes de différents groupes d’âge perçoivent les infirmières praticiennes. Les femmes d’âge moyen avaient généralement une opinion plus positive des professionnels de la santé et étaient plus enclines à indiquer qu’elles demanderaient de l’aide des infirmières praticiennes que les femmes plus âgées et plus jeunes qu’elles. Les répondants des trois groupes d’âge étaient davantage portés à consulter des médecins que des infirmières praticiennes, particulièrement en ce qui concerne les problèmes de santé aigus (par opposition aux questions préventives).

Keywords

infirmières praticiennesattitudesintentionsnurse practitionersattitudesintentions
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 177 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2009

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