IMPROVEMENT IN ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY FOLLOWING TRADITIONAL ANDGERIATRIC MOCK CLINICS FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY STUDENTS

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the attitudes of st udents in a physical therapy education program toward the elderly coul d be influenced positively by (1) having classroom discussion led by a n individual with expertise in geriatrics and (2) having only individu als aged 65 years or older participate in a specially designed geriatr ic mock clinic (GMC). Subjects were 47 first-year students divided int o a control group (n = 24) and an experimental group (n = 23). Student s in the control group participated in two 4-week clinical rotations. Students in the experimental group participated in one 5-week clinical rotation and in one 3-week GMC. Students in both groups were given a pretest and a posttest administration of the Kogan Old People Scale to assess their attitudes toward the elderly. No significant difference was found between the two groups' overall attitude scores on the prete st or the posttest results. Overall, positive attitude scores increase d significantly for both groups, although the increase was greater for the experimental group than for the control group. Negative attitude scores decreased significantly for the experimental group, but did not change for the control group. We concluded that both traditional clin ical rotations and a specially designed GMC influenced the students po sitively. Suggestions have been made for the Clinical Instructor who w ishes to influence physical therapy students' attitudes to meet the in creasing needs of the elderly patient population.