Date Presented 4/20/2018
This study explored the perceptions and knowledge of aging of 48 first-semester occupational therapy students using the Facts on Aging Quiz with added questions. Results indicate poor gerontological literacy of students regardless of age, preferred population for future practice, or test duration.
Primary Author and Speaker: LaVona Traywick
Additional Authors and Speakers: Brittany Saviers
Contributing Authors: Terry Griffin
PURPOSE: At the same time the number of older adults in the United States is steadily rising, there is also a growing shortage of allied health professionals. The purpose of this study was to determine first-year occupational therapy students’ perceptions and knowledge of aging and relate their test results to their desired population for practice.
METHOD: For this descriptive research study, after institutional review board approval, we used Qualtrics (Provo, UT) to administer Erdman Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quiz (Breytspraak & Badura, 2015), an online multiple choice survey. Questions were categorized into four groups: (1) health related, (2) aspects of normal aging, (3) psychosocial aspects of aging, and (4) demographic and statistical knowledge of aging. For each student, mean scores for the four categories and for all 50 questions were calculated. Student’s t tests were conducted to determine whether mean scores differed between groups. Additional questions included participants’ birth year, whether they considered themselves a traditional or nontraditional student, preferred future work setting, and preferred age population with which to work. The survey was emailed to 48 first-year occupational therapy students for voluntary participation, with a 100% response rate.
RESULTS: Participants were 43 women and 5 men with a mean age of 24. Nine wanted to work in geriatrics, 4 with adults, 16 in pediatrics, 5 with all populations, and 5 with special populations (e.g., spinal cord injury, veterans), and 9 were undecided. Age was not a significant factor in their choice of preferred population. Moreover, their preferred population did not have any effect on test scores, which averaged 33/50 (66%). Test scores did not differ significantly between Groups 1 and 2 or between Groups 3 and 4 (p ≤ .05). All other pairs of test scores were significant (p ≤ .05).
CONCLUSION: Knowledge about older adults was poor regardless of students’ age, preferred population for future practice, or duration of testing. Additionally, one-third of this entering occupational therapy cohort desired to work solely with the pediatric population. These results are contrary to the need indicated in the current literature, which has reported trends toward an increasing need for allied health care professionals to work with the aging population.
These students’ test scores suggest that more emphasis should be placed on gerontological literacy and the importance of life course theory for incoming occupational therapy students to decrease personal bias and enhance professional knowledge of and competency with the aging population. In addition, these findings provide insight for academicians and health care professionals into the importance of enhancing productive aging knowledge to contribute to the preparation of future occupational therapy practitioners and scientists who will be better equipped to improve health and the everyday lives of individuals, families, and populations across the lifespan.
Carmel, Cwikel, and Galinsky (1992) showed that increasing knowledge alone was not enough to change attitudes about aging or the desire to work with the older adult population. Future studies should look at alternative methods, besides knowledge gain, to change attitudes toward aging. In addition, future studies should seek to understand the benefits of undergraduate education in gerontological literacy for the preparation of future health care providers.
References
Administration for Community Living. (2017). Administration on Aging. Retrieved from https://www.acl.gov/index.php/about-acl/administration-aging
Breytspraak, L., & Badura, L. (2015). Quiz: Facts on Aging. Retrieved from http://info.umkc.edu/aging/quiz/
Carmel, S., Cwikel, J., & Galinsky, D. (1992). Changes in knowledge, attitudes, and work preferences following courses in gerontology among medical, nursing, and social work students. Educational Gerontology, 18, 329–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/0360127920180403
Eldercare Workforce Alliance. (2011). Geriatrics workforce shortage: A looming crisis for our families [Issue brief]. Washington, DC: Author.
