The prevalence of manifestations of gerontological ageism among university students in five European countries

Abstract

Background. the problem of the ageing population has resulted in attitudes towards aging in different age groups becoming a subject of increased academic interest. Objectives. to provide comparative characteristics of the prevalence of manifestations of gerontological ageism among university students in five european countries. Material and methods. the sample consisted of university students (n = 2493) aged 18-25 from Belarus (n = 827), Russia (n = 528), poland (n = 798), lithuania (n = 223) and Ukraine (n = 117). the prevalence of gerontological ageism among respondents was evaluated according to the Fraboni ageism Scale. Results. the prevalence and manifestations of gerontological ageism vary depending on the country. the maximum total indicator, displaying the highest overall level of ageism, was noted among Belarusian students, the minimum -in lithuania (p < 0.05). the final indicators of gerontological ageism were found to be the following: the level of age discrimination and negative emotional attitude towards the elderly was increased in one fifth of the respondents in all five groups. the observation found the level of ageism averaging at 60%, evenly distributed in all groups. the predominant attitudes towards older people were found to be neutral or positive (84.6%). Conclusions. the manifestations of ageism are international in nature and can explain 20% of the total variety of answers characterising the differences in ranked attributes and degree of ageism. the total indicator showed the highest degree of gerontological ageism among students in Belarus, the lowest -among those in lithuania, with levels of gerontological ageism among students in Russia, poland and Ukraine distributed in between.

Evaluation of potentially inappropriate prescribing and deprescription as elements of good medical practice in elderly patient care

“…Average life expectancy has been on an almost constant rise over recent decades in Europe, which has led to an increase in the proportion of elderly people in these populations. This aging societies phenomenon results in numerous side effects, including loneliness [1], physical and mental disabilities [2], psychomotor disorders [3], dependency on others [4] and thus vulnerability to gerontological ageism [5], neglect and abuse [6], and, most of all, multimorbidity [7]. Multimorbidity can be defined as the coexistence of a chronic disease with at least one other acute or chronic disease or psychosocial factor that is often linked to some somatic issue [8].…”