and "old" behavior.
Analyses of data indicated that doctors and nurses understood the role of chronology somewhat differently; one-third of nurses believed that chronology was either irrelevant to defining old age or always sufficient to do so, while no doctors shared these beliefs.
All doctors and 81 percent of nurses defined poor health status as a salient marker of old age. The meanings of "old" behaviors were shared by both doctors and nurses, these behaviors were often used as a salient marker of old age, and three factors of these behaviors were identified--disengagement, unproductivity, and inflexibility. It was concluded by Fineman (1994) that doctors' and nurses' expectation that people in late life are sick and inactive may severely compromise the care of older adults.
Ageism is a serious problem. In the general population, ageism results in discriminatory treatment of older people making it difficult for them to find desired housing, and other services (Craft, 1993). Moreover, it can
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