This questionnaire-based survey assessed the attitudes of dental hygiene students towards treating elderly patients.
The 14-item Geriatric Attitude Scale (GAS-14) questionnaire was used in this survey. A further set of 9 questions evaluated the opinions of the students towards the existing geriatric curriculum in their respective institutions. Students from five dental hygiene schools from three countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Canada) participated in this survey. General demographic information from the participants were collected. Mean GAS-14 scores were calculated; ANOVA and Bonferroni tests were used for statistical analyses (p<0.05).
385 students (Switzerland: n=157, mean-age=25.38±4.6y, Belgium: n=82, mean-age=27.58±12.8y; Canada: n=146, mean-age=25.95±12.3y) completed the survey for a response rate of 86.3%. The overall GAS-14 scores for Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada were 3.61±0.42, 3.24±0.37, and 3.32±0.36, respectively. Switzerland scored significantly higher than Belgium and Canada (p<0.0001). Overall scores revealed a significant effect of progressive training (p=0.010). The GAS-14 score was influenced by the nationality of the participants (p<0.0001), but not influenced by sex, age, origin, religion, marital-, and accommodation-, statuses. Majority of the students (75.8%) agreed that geriatric dentistry was an important part of their education. 77.4% agreed that they would like hands-on experience in treating the elderly patient during their education. 85.1% of the participants considered mobile dental clinics as a good solution for the provision of dental care to the institutionalized elders.
The general attitudes of DH students towards treating the elderly patients are on an acceptable level and improved as they progressed through their dental hygiene academic programs.

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