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Authors
Abstract(s)
Introduction: Geriatrics, defined as the medical specialty that studies and treats
the elderly population has been assuming an increasing importance. Bearing in mind that
the geriatric population occupies a high rate of consumption of health care and knowing
that health professionals are the ones who most need to provide the best possible care,
there is an urgent need to evaluate their attitudes toward the elderly and infer how these
same attitudes interfere with the provision of care. The main objective of this study is to
adapt the “UCLA Geriatric Attitudes Scale” in Portuguese to medical students so that it
can later be applied to other health professionals in the most varied contexts. Our second
objective was the evaluation, through the application of “UCLA Geriatrics Attitude Scale”
of the changes, or absence thereof, of the attitudes of students from the 3rd to the 5th
years of the Integrated Master’s in Medicine towards the geriatric population.
Methods: The eligible population to be studied was composed of 172 students of the
3rd year, whose response rate was 39.53% (68 responses) and 166 students of the 5th year
with a response rate of 36.14% (60 responses). Therefore, a total of 128 responses were
obtained, for a total of 338 students. After informed consent, the sample responded to a
scale that had been previously translated by certified professionals after authorization by
the authors. After the application phase of the research questionnaires, the data collected
were processed using the software Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS),
version 26 with a significance level of 0.05.
Results: Bearing in mind that higher scores correspond to better attitudes, the
following results were obtained: the UCLA-GA scale total median score did not differ
between academic years (p=.903), sexes (p=.124) or between students with and without
close contact with elderly (p=.070) but was higher in single students comparing with
married ones (p=.002). Only the students’ current average grade was a significant
predictor, with the UCLA-GA score increasing an average of 0.8 points per each value in
the student average grade (ß=0,847; 95% CI 0,201-1,492; p=.011).
Conclusion: Considering the growing panorama of an aging population, measures
should be implemented to study and to improve attitudes towards older people. Globally,
the population sample studied shows very favorable attitudes from the students towards
the geriatric population.
Description
Keywords
Aging Geriatric Geriatric Attitudes Medical Students Attitudes Ucla