Beckwée D1,2,3, Gorus E1, 't Lam M1, Ása Árnadóttir S4
1Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium, 2Universiteit Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium, 3Somt University of Physiotherapy, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 4Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland
Background: The proportion of people aged 60 years or older will double by 2050. Since older adults differ from their younger peers, physical therapists need specific competences to work with older people. Despite the importance of acquiring specific qualifications, few students show interest in a geriatric training program.
Purpose: To review the literature regarding attitudes of physiotherapy students towards (working with) older people.
Methods: A literature search was conducted using three different electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus). The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cross-sectional studies was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Positive and negative attitudes were extracted from the included studies. Subsequently these were grouped into categories that share common ground.
Results: The search resulted in 2147 studies that were screened. Six studies, including 2413 participants, were included in this review. These studies used five different scales to measure attitudes towards older people. Forty-four different variables relating to attitudes towards older people were extracted which were then grouped into six categories: demographic, experience, education, work setting, social view, financial support. Two categories, i.e. experience and education, were reported to be associated with positive attitudes toward older adults.
Conclusion(s): Positive experiences with older adults and education are important factors that are related to physical therapy students´ positive attitudes towards older adults.
Implications: Physiotherapy educational curricula should be aware that clinical internships (experience with older adults) and geriatric courses have impact on the attitudes of students toward older adults.
Keywords: Attitudes, student, older adults
Funding acknowledgements: no funding
Purpose: To review the literature regarding attitudes of physiotherapy students towards (working with) older people.
Methods: A literature search was conducted using three different electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus). The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cross-sectional studies was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Positive and negative attitudes were extracted from the included studies. Subsequently these were grouped into categories that share common ground.
Results: The search resulted in 2147 studies that were screened. Six studies, including 2413 participants, were included in this review. These studies used five different scales to measure attitudes towards older people. Forty-four different variables relating to attitudes towards older people were extracted which were then grouped into six categories: demographic, experience, education, work setting, social view, financial support. Two categories, i.e. experience and education, were reported to be associated with positive attitudes toward older adults.
Conclusion(s): Positive experiences with older adults and education are important factors that are related to physical therapy students´ positive attitudes towards older adults.
Implications: Physiotherapy educational curricula should be aware that clinical internships (experience with older adults) and geriatric courses have impact on the attitudes of students toward older adults.
Keywords: Attitudes, student, older adults
Funding acknowledgements: no funding
Topic: Education; Older people
Ethics approval required: No
Institution: Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Ethics committee: /
Reason not required: Literature review
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
