A Cross-Country Exploration: Dietetic Students' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Intentions to Provide Services to the Elderly

Abstract

This study identified dietetic students' knowledge of aging, attitudes, and intentions to provide services to the elderly and compared the cross-cultural differences between the United States and South Korea. The results show that knowledge about aging and the elderly, coursework experiences, and internship experiences are much greater among American college students than among Korean college students. Stepwise regression results found positive attitudes toward working for the elderly, as well as internship experiences, influenced behavioral intentions among both Korean and U.S. students. Effective education programs should integrate sufficient knowledge, positively reflect student attitudes toward aging populations, and control the quality of contact with the elderly.

Undergraduate Students' Knowledge about Aging and Attitudes toward Older Adults in East and West: A Socio-Economic and Cultural Exploration

“…The status of older adults did decline with advancing industrialization, as claimed by modernization theorists. However, recent empirical studies (Cha & Seo, 2009;Sharps et al, 1998;Yun & Lachman, 2006) all show that undergraduate students in western countries have better knowledge about and more positive attitudes toward aging than their counterparts in eastern countries. The findings of this present study are consistent with these studies.…”

“…On the other hand, some studies mainly concentrate on the relationship between cultural differences and the status of older people. For example, comparisons between eastern and western cultures were made in the above studies (Cha & Seo, 2009;Sharps et al, 1998;Yun & Lachman, 2006). Due to the lack of studies that investigate the influence of both socio-economic and cultural differences, the focus of this study, therefore, is to further understand the simultaneous impact of socio-economic and cultural differences on societal concerns about aging in the different countries.…”

Health professionals' attitudes toward older people and older patients: A systematic review

“…Possible range: 17-102, mid-score 51, (Polizzi, 2003), Facts on Aging Quiz (Palmore, 1998), Fraboni's Scale of Ageism (FSA; Fraboni, Saltstone & Hughes, 1990), the AGED (The Age Group Evaluation and Description) inventory (Knox, Gekoski, & Kelly, 1995), perception of working with older people (PWOP; Nolan, Davies, Nolan, & Brown, 2001), Attitudes toward the Elderly (Cha & Seo, 2009) and Oberleder Attitude Scale (Oberleder, 1982). Some studies (part of doctors' and other healthcare professionals data) use the validated instruments which were developed to measure the attitudes toward older patients for the healthcare professionals.…”

“…This potentially adversely affects the quality of care provided (Lee, Reuben, & Ferrell, 2005), particularly in terms of staff behavior, interactions, available treatments and healthcare services (Hatton, 1977;Knowles & Sarver, 1985), reflecting subtle processes within various organization and systems (Pedersen et al, 2008). Furthermore, negative attitudes were associated with lower willingness to consider a career in geriatrics (Chua, Tan, Merchant, & Soiza, 2008;Hughes et al, 2008;Pan, Edwards, & Chang, 2009), which is a cause of concern regarding the future availability of health professionals to meet the needs of the increasing healthcare system (Cha, & Seo, 2009). …”

“…professionals are needed. The increasing demand for healthcare from older people with their chronic diseases and functional impairments (Centre for DiseaseControl and Prevention, 2001;Cha & Seo, 2009) requires the contributions of the other healthcare professionals (such as physiotherapists and dieticians) within care delivery so that understanding their attitudes is also important.…”