Nurses' Diagnostic Stereotyping of the Elderly

Abstract

This study experimentally tested three behaviors thought to underlie the clinical decision-making process that permits the systematic labeling of the elderly as senile; namely, when compared to a younger person with identical neuropsychiatric symptoms, an older person will more likely be given a diagnosis of organic brain syndrome, will more likely be given a poor prognosis for recovery, and will more likely be given palliative rather than interventive treatment. The study also examined the impact of contact with older patients on the making of these clinical decisions. Subjects were the entire nursing staff (N = 186) of a general hospital in a northeastern American city. One-half of the sample responded to a vignette of a young person and one-half to a vignette of an old person with identical signs of emotional, behavioral, and perceptual disorder. The results support the notion that clinical decisions tend to be biased against old age and thus contribute to inappropriate labeling of the elderly. Results also suggest that when compared to subjects having little contact with old patients, those having considerable contact were more likely to believe that all patients, regardless of age, have an organic, incurable, and untreatable illness.