ERIC Number: EJ1049299
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0360-1277
EISSN: N/A
Intentions of College Students to Serve as Informal Caregivers for Their Older Relatives: Theory of Planned Behavior Approach
Joshi, Gungeet; Gezan, Salvador; Delisle, Tony; Stopka, Christine; Pigg, Morgan; Tillman, Mark
Educational Gerontology, v41 n5 p384-396 2015
As the older adult population increases, the healthcare system is experiencing a shortage of professional health care providers and caregivers. Consequently, the role of family to serve as caregivers will expand to care for older relatives at home. Thus, a larger proportion of adult children will become caregivers, including young adults enrolled as college students. Therefore, a need exists to examine the intentions, attitudes, and subjective norms of typical college students to assume the role of informal caregivers. The present study is based on the theoretical framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The TPB assumes attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control influence intentions which provide the best predictors of actual behavior. The cross-sectional study included an attitude scale, additional scales based on TPB, and a demographic profile. Data were collected from 750 currently enrolled university students then analyzed for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and hierarchal multiple regression statistics. The students' quality of experiences and interaction with older relatives correlated significantly with intentions, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control to serve as informal caregivers. Our study shows that, in the present context, TPB offers a viable explanation of students' intentions to serve as informal caregivers. Implications of the study suggest health care providers, geriatricians, health educators, and patient educators should become involved in the education and strategy development necessary to assist this young group of informal caregivers.
Descriptors: College Students, Student Attitudes, Caregivers, Intention, Behavior Theories, Demography, Statistical Analysis, Correlation, Research Universities, Land Grant Universities, Public Colleges, Measures (Individuals), Rating Scales, Reliability, Validity, Student Surveys, Regression (Statistics), Student Characteristics, Older Adults
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Aging Semantic Differential
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A