J Korean Community Nurs.  1999 Dec;10(2):525-536.

The Attitudes of Nursing Students Towards Poverty: Based on the Factors Causing Poverty and the Factors Caused by Poverty

• Yang SO
• Im ML

Abstract

The result of this study may be abstracted as follows. 1) The study was done on 48.3% seniors(138), 34.3% sophomores. and 17.5% juniors mostly ranging in age from 21 to 22, the largest number of students at 38.1%(109) were Christian. followed by 31.5%(90) were Confucian. 20.6%(59) who were Catholic. and 9.1%(26)who were Buddhist. 2) Concerning the economic views. 46.8%(134) preferred Capitalism 40.9%(117) preferred a combination of Capitalism and Socialism, 8.7%(25) were for more or less Socialistic in view point, and 3.5%(10) for Socialism. 3) Among the internal factors causing poverty, 'lack of ability(knowledge)', scored the highest at 3.528, and 'beauty or appearance' scored the lowest at 1.570. Social factors scored high in 'bad economic/tax policies' at 3.374 and 'low average in wages' at 3.364. Among family matters, 'not much money at home' scored the highest at 3.273, and 'low expectation of success in poor families' scored the lowest at 2.315. On concerns of fate and destiny. 'bad luck' turned out to be the most likely cause of poverty with the score of 2.619. and 'destined poverty' was the least likely cause with the score of 1.969. 4) The high scoring economical consequences of poverty was 'not able to do as one desires' at 3.965, and 'no money to buy things wanted' at 3.804. 'Gets tired of life' (4.028) scored high in psychological consequences showing that poverty affects these matters greatly. 'Looked down on by others' (3.538) scored high in social circumstances, and 'feels like a burden to society' scored low at 2.080. Among family matters. 'hard life' scored high at 4.210, and 'low morality' scored low at 1.972. 5) Significant differences(p=.00) were found between economic views and what significance certain internal factors caused poverty these differences were also related to a reliance on religion, economic views, and economic status. Significant differences were also found between economic status and internal factors causing poverty(p=.04), economic point of view and social factors(p=.01). and economical point of view and luck related matters, (p=.01) When the consequences of poverty were considered. psychological factors such as 'hate towards oneself', 'tired of life', and 'afraid of the future' showed significant differences in relation to economic status. (p=.02) Family matters also showed significant differences in relation to economic status(p=.03), With personal characteristics and wealth causing factors, significant differences were found between a person's economic point of view and ecinomic status when considering and internal or social factors.

MeSH Terms

Capitalism
Humans
Poverty*
Psychology
Socialism
Students, Nursing*