Staff perceptions of ageist practice in the clinical setting: Practice development project

The aim of the study was to:

identify and describe the nature of any age discriminatory practice in the clinical setting through the perceptions and experiences of staff working with older people in East Kent and provide recommendations based on the findings.

Method

The study adopted a largely qualitative approach using focus group design. In all, six focus groups were conducted consisting of 57 people from a wide range of health and social service specialisms in East Kent. An aim of the study method was to isolate consensus areas of ageist practice that would facilitate targeted intervention. To assist this, a questionnaire of statements relating to common practice experiences was developed following the first two focus groups.This was completed by the subsequent four focus groups and used as a discussion tool. The questionnaire also provided some loose quantifiable information from these four groups around frequency of perceptions and experiences of ageist practice.