The impacts of nurses' attitudes towards dementia, critical reflection competency, and nursing work environment on person-centered nursing in acute care hospitals: A descriptive study

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the attitudes of acute care nurses towards dementia, their critical reflection competency, and the level of nursing work environment and to identify the factors relating to person-centered nursing. Methods: The study was conducted for 149 nurses with at least 1 year of experience working in acute care hospitals and providing nursing care to hospitalized elderly patients. The measurements used were the Dementia Attitude Scale Korean version, the Critical Reflection Competency Scale, the Nursing Work Environment Scale, and the Person-Centered Nursing Assessment Tool. The collected data were analyzed with frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA test, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression using IBM SPSS 29.0 software. Results: The factors influencing person-centered nursing performance were critical reflection competency (β=.49, p<.001), attitudes towards dementia (β=.29, p<.001), and clinical career (β=-.26, p=.024), having the explanation power of 59.6%. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that critical reflection competency, attitudes towards dementia, and clinical career have an impact on person-centered nursing performance. Specifically, higher levels of critical reflection competency and positive attitudes towards dementia were predictors with higher levels of person-centered nursing performance. Therefore, to enhance person-centered nursing performance among acute care nurses, it is important to prioritize critical reflection training programs for experienced nurses to enhance their critical reflection competency.