The evaluation of physicians’ attitudes toward the elderly

Abstract

Introduction: In the general population, the rate of older people seeking healthcare would increase. Understanding underlying factors that determine positive and negative attitudes towards the elderly is essential to give better healthcare.Methods: One-hundred and sixty-nine physicians participated in the study. Participants answered an online questionnaire consists of sociodemographic information, and the University of California at the Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitude (UCLA-GA) scale to evaluate the attitudes towards the geriatric population.Results: The attitude towards the elderly by internist, neurologist, and psychiatrist was comparable. Relationship with positive attitude and specialties, gender, age, marital status, duration of specialty expertise, and having geriatrics education and monthly followed-up elderly patients was not significant. The positive attitude was significantly related to having an elderly relative.Conclusions: In our study, although neurologists received more geriatric education, and mostly seen inpatient and outpatient patients, their attitudes towards geriatric patients were similar to psychiatry and internal medicine specialists. In addition, we observed that positive attitudes in elderly patients were significantly associated with having a relative over 65 years old. Education curriculum should include programs increasing the exposure to healthy older people may increase positive attitude rates. The organization of working programs should be carried out considering the necessity of a long time to evaluate the elderly.

Keywords

• tutum
• geriatri
• nöroloji
• dahiliye
• psikiyatri
• geriatri eğitimi
• geriatrics education
• attitude
• geriatrics
• neurology
• internal medicine
• psychiatry