Stigma Towards Hospitalised Older Adults: A Concept Analysis.
Sadaf Murad-Kassam, Wenting Yan, Rachel G Khadaroo
PMID 40954525WHAT IT FOUND
Hospitalised older adults face stigma as age-based assumptions, exclusion from decisions, neglected pain care and rehabilitation, and dismissive communication.
These practices are associated with withdrawal, poorer recovery, disability and delayed discharge.
Key findings
01The analysis describes stigma towards hospitalised older adults as age-based discrimination, discriminatory practices, and negative healthcare provider attitudes.
02Its main antecedents are social stigma, self-stigma, and lack of training and resources in hospital settings.
03The analysis describes consequences as inadequate treatment, disability, increased risk of institutionalisation or mortality, and reduced motivation for recovery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a concept analysis of published literature, not a clinical trial, so it does not test whether reducing stigma improves patient outcomes. The authors searched only English articles and mainly title or title and abstract fields, so relevant non-English or broader hospital literature may be missed. The included evidence was limited to 16 studies, and the authors state that few studies were directly related to stigma towards hospitalised older adults. Most included studies were from North America and Europe, with three from the Middle East and one from Africa, so hospital contexts may not transfer. The review included a commentary and treated two overlapping articles as one entry, so the evidence base was not purely primary research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that changing staff attitudes will improve older adult recovery. It is a concept analysis of published literature, not a trial, and it proposes a definition and themes rather than measuring patient outcomes.