A Study on the Home Helpers' Knowledge about Facts on Aging and Attitude toward the Elderly in Korea

가정봉사원의 노화사실 인지정도와 노인에 대한 태도 : 급여유무별 비교

The purpose of this study is to measure the home helpers' knowledge about facts on aging and attitude toward the elderly in Korea, and to find out the variables that may influence their attitude. Four hundred and thirty eight home helpers working in a home help agency were given the questionnaire containing the Kyung San Facts on Aging Quiz to measure the level of knowledge about aging and Yoon (1988)'s scale to find the direction of attitude toward the elderly. The results of this study are analyzed as follows: (1) The home helpers' level of knowledge about aging was 59.1%, which was lower than nurses' level (65.0%) and social workers' level (65.3%). And the paid home helpers' level of knowledge about aging was 61.2%, which was significantly different from the unpaid home helpers' level (57.0%). (2) Using 5 points scale, mean of home helpers' attitude toward the elderly was 2.56 (51.2%), which was different from nurses' attitude (40.6%) and social workers' attitude (62.0%). And the paid home helpers' attitude toward the elderly's action (29.9%) was significantly different from the unpaid home helpers' attitude (32.6%). (3) Using multiple regression analysis, the home helpers' levels of knowledge about aging was the most significant predictor to explain the home helpers' attitude toward the elderly. The other variables that are also statistically significant predictors of the home helpers' attitude were sex, voluntary experience for the elderly, age, city size, and personal experience with the elderly. Especially the significant predictors to explain the paid home helpers' attitude were their levels of knowledge about aging and city size. On the other hand, the significant predictors to explain the unpaid home helpers' attitude were sex and age. Based on the research results, implications for practice and future research are discussed, and education methods for making home helpers' attitude toward the elderly more positive are also suggested.