Abstract
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Background: The global aging population has increased demand for geriatric care, yet workforce shortages persist, partly because nursing students show low motivation to enter this field. Knowledge of aging and attitudes toward geriatric care may influence career choice, but their relationships remain unclear.
Aim: To identify latent profiles of geriatric care attitudes, compare aging knowledge and career choice motivation across profiles, and test the mediating role of aging knowledge.
Methods: A cross-sectional study included 429 third-year nursing students recruited by convenience sampling from one university in Chongqing, China (May-July 2025). Data were collected using the Facts on Aging Quiz, Perspectives on Caring for Older Patients scale, and Career Choice Motivation Questionnaire for Geriatric Nursing. Latent profile analysis identified attitude profiles, and mediation analysis tested whether aging knowledge mediated the attitude-motivation association.
Results: Three profiles were identified: ambivalent-coexistent (12.12%), moderate-balanced (27.97%), and positive-pure (59.91%). The positive-pure group had the most favorable attitudes but not the highest career motivation, whereas the ambivalent-coexistent group showed the strongest motivation. Aging knowledge mediated the relationship only in the moderate balanced group (indirect effect: β=-1.1068, 95% CI [-2.1281, -0.2945]); no mediation was found in the positive-pure group.
Conclusions: Geriatric care attitudes are heterogeneous and linked to different levels of career motivation. Aging knowledge has a conditional mediating role, operating only in the moderate balanced group. Interventions should be profile-specific: strengthen aging knowledge and care confidence for moderate-balanced students, improve professional environments and career prospects for positive-pure students, and use empowerment training to resolve cognitive conflicts while sustaining motivation among ambivalent-coexistent students.
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