Abstract
Objective
Attitude of healthcare providers toward older people is very important in the aging world. Neurologists contact older adults very frequently. We aimed to investigate the attitudes of neurologists toward older adults.
Measurements
We recorded participants age; sex; duration of clinical practice in neurology; existence of older adult relatives; and history of geriatrics education, nursing home visits, older adult patient density in their clinical practice, and participation in voluntary public activities. UCLA Geriatrics Attitude Scale was used to evaluate participants’ attitudes.
Results
A total of 100 neurologists participated in this study. Seventy-seven percent had positive, 3 % had neutral, and 20 % had negative attitudes. Twenty-seven percent of the participants had history of geriatrics education, and these participants tended to have a higher rate of positive attitudes. Neurologists with positive attitudes tended to be older than those with negative attitudes. Participants with history of living with older adult relatives had lower rates of positive attitudes. The most common diagnoses of the patients the participants encountered were stroke and dementia. Independent factors associated with positive attitudes were history of geriatrics education and older age. History of living with older relatives tended to have a negative effect. Most of the negative items of the attitude scale were associated with the natural course and behavior of the common diseases in neurology practice.
Conclusions
Generalization of geriatrics education may translate into a better understanding and improved care for older patients. Development of instruments and implementation of qualitative studies to assess attitudes of neurologists toward older adults are needed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Oakley R, Pattinson J, Goldberg S et al (2014) Equipping tomorrow’s doctors for the patients of today. Age Ageing 43:442–447. doi:10.1093/ageing/afu077
Kearney N, Miller M, Paul J et al (2000) Oncology healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward elderly people. Ann Oncol 11:599–601
Koder DA, Helmes E (2008) Reactions to ageing among Australian psychologists. Australas J Ageing 27:212–214. doi:10.1111/j.1741-6612.2008.00314.x
Kishimoto M, Nagoshi M, Williams S et al (2005) Knowledge and attitudes about geriatrics of medical students, internal medicine residents, and geriatric medicine fellows. J Am Geriatr Soc 53:99–102. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53018.x
Lee M, Reuben DB, Ferrell BA (2005) Multidimensional attitudes of medical residents and geriatrics fellows toward older people. J Am Geriatr Soc 53:489–494. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53170.x
Tufan F, Yuruyen M, Kizilarslanoglu MC et al (2015) Geriatrics education is associated with positive attitudes toward older people in internal medicine residents: a multicenter study. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 60:307–310. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2014.12.004
Reuben DB, Lee M, Davis JW Jr et al (1998) Development and validation of a geriatrics attitudes scale for primary care residents. J Am Geriatr Soc 46:1425–1430
Sahin S, Mandiracioglu A, Tekin N et al (2012) Attitudes toward the elderly among the health care providers: reliability and validity of Turkish version of the UCLA Geriatrics Attitudes (UCLA-GA) scale. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 55:205–209. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2011.08.015
Gordon AL, Blundell A, Dhesi JK et al (2014) UK medical teaching about ageing is improving but there is still work to be done: the Second National Survey of Undergraduate Teaching in Ageing and Geriatric Medicine. Age Ageing 43:293–297. doi:10.1093/ageing/aft207
Yang Y, Xiao LD, Ullah S et al (2015) General practitioners’ knowledge of ageing and attitudes towards older people in China. Australas J Ageing 34:82–87. doi:10.1111/ajag.12105
Cankurtaran M, Halil M, Ulger Z et al (2006) Influence of medical education on students’ attitudes towards the elderly. J Natl Med Assoc 98:1518–1522
Chua MP, Tan CH, Merchant R et al (2008) Attitudes of first-year medical students in Singapore towards older people and willingness to consider a career in geriatric medicine. Ann Acad Med Singapore 37:947–951
Kaempfer D, Wellman NS, Himburg SP (2002) Dietetics students’ low knowledge, attitudes, and work preferences toward older adults indicate need for improved education about aging. J Am Diet Assoc 102:197–202
Reuben DB, Fullerton JT, Tschann JM et al (1995) Attitudes of beginning medical students toward older persons: a five-campus study. The University of California Academic Geriatric Resource Program Student Survey Research Group. J Am Geriatr Soc 43:1430–1436
Usta YY, Demir Y, Yonder M et al (2012) Nursing students’ attitudes toward ageism in Turkey. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 54:90–93. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2011.02.002
Li J, Thornicroft G, Yang H et al (2015) Training community mental health staff in Guangzhou, China: evaluation of the effect of a new training model. BMC Psychiatry 15:263. doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0660-1
Ross L, Williams B (2015) Real engagement improving paramedic attitudes towards the elderly. Clin Teach 12:37–41. doi:10.1111/tct.12226
Leung S, Logiudice D, Schwarz J et al (2011) Hospital doctors’ attitudes towards older people. Intern Med J 41:308–314. doi:10.1111/j.1445-5994.2009.02140.x
Hweidi IM, Al-Hassan MA (2005) Jordanian nurses’ attitudes toward older patients in acute care settings. Int Nurs Rev 52:225–232. doi:10.1111/j.1466-7657.2005.00434.x
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
All authors have no potential, perceived, or real conflict of interest to disclose.
Statement of human and animal rights
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Seferoğlu, M., Yıldız, D., Pekel, N.B. et al. Attitudes of neurology specialists toward older adults. Aging Clin Exp Res 29, 787–792 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0606-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-016-0606-6