Country-specific differences of age stereotypes towards older hospital staff and their association with self-efficacy, work ability and mental well-being

Aims: To compare stereotypes towards older workers between hospital staff in Germany and Latvia and to analyse the relationship between those stereotypes and self-efficacy, subjective work ability and irritation. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: In 2018, hospital staff, including nurses, physicians and other professions, of two German and three Latvian hospitals were asked to complete the standardized study questionnaire on subjective work ability, occupational self-efficacy, irritation and stereotypes towards older workers. In the latter scale older workers were defined as ≥45 years of age and the scale ranged from 27–135 whereby higher values reflect higher levels of positive stereotypes. To analyse the relationship between stereotypes and those work-related outcomes, multiple linear regression models, including interaction terms between stereotypes and age, were built and adjusted for occupational group, sex and country. Results: Data from 300 employees of Latvian and from 113 employees of German hospitals were included in the analyses. Hospital staff in Germany reported higher levels of positive stereotypes (mean = 87.46, SD 10.04) than hospital staff in Latvia (mean = 84.69, SD 10.10; t(411) = −2.496, p =.013). When analysing the entire sample of hospital staff in Germany and Latvia, a more positive view on older workers was associated with higher self-efficacy (β = 0.136, p =.008) and subjective work ability (β = 0.063, p <.001) and lower levels of irritation (β = −0.191, p =.017). The association with self-efficacy and subjective work ability increased in strength by participant's age. Country-stratified analyses yielded similar results. Conclusion: The results provide first evidence that stereotypes towards older workers of hospital staff may differ between different European countries. Furthermore, they suggest that counteracting negative stereotypes towards older workers may help to improve self-efficacy and subjective work ability and reduce irritation levels of older employees. Impact: Those findings emphasize the importance of age stereotypes when examining and promoting older hospital staffs' self-efficacy, subjective work ability and irritation in a cross-national context.