Title : Physical Therapy Students ’ Attitudes towards Older People and Willingness to Consider Career in Geriatric Physical Therapy .
Umer Ilyas
Introduction : World is now experiencing a rapid increase in their elderly population . Which in turn demands skilled and experienced health care provider for elderly people . But there is deficiency of geriatrics specialized health care providers . Physical therapist as an integral part of health care team , have important role in older people care . The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude towards older people and their willingness to consider career in geriatrics physical therapy . Current study is relevant to today ’ s world population situation .
Methods : It was a cross sectional survey . 239 Physical Therapy students of third and fourth year using non-probability convenience sampling technique were included . The response rate was 98 %. UCLA Geriatrics Attitudes Scale was used . An additional question added to ask student ’ s willingness to consider Geriatric Physical Therapy as a career . Study was approved by SCPT ethics committee wide Ref No : IRB-SCPT-DPT- 110-2017dated 10-01-2017 .
Results : Study sample consisted of 239 physical therapy students with 194 ( 81 %) females and 45 ( 19 %) males . Majority of respondents ( 64.44 %) showed positive attitude , mean UCLA attitude score ( 3.22 ± 0.346 ), while one fourth of students ( 25.1 %) found with negative attitude and rest were neutral . Association of UCLA Geriatrics Attitude Scale with gender showed that female students 127 ( 65.4 %) had positive attitude , while males with positive attitude were 27 ( 60 %). However , no significant difference existed ( p = 2.43 ). Middle class ( 58.5 % respondents ) showed more positive attitude towards elderly . In total 62.34 % students showed their willingness in considering geriatrics as a career .
Conclusion : Majority of physical therapy students found with positive attitude towards elderly and almost equal proportion showed their willingness in considering geriatrics as a speciality in future career and majority of them belonged to Middle socioeconomic status . Male and female students presented no significant difference in their attitudes .
Impact : It is important to promote knowledge and positive attitude among students towards elderly . Geriatric physical therapy can be a good initiative as a specialized filed for physical therapy . Negative attitude and lack of knowledge can impact quality of care and measures should be taken to address these issues .
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