SECONDARY-SCHOOL STUDENTS KNOWLEDGE OF AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS OLDER-PEOPLE - DOES AN EDUCATION INTERVENTION PROGRAM MAKE A DIFFERENCE

It is now increasingly recognised that if we are to combat ageism the attitudes and knowledge of young people need to be more positively con structed so that they do not hold stereotypic views of ageing. This st udy evaluates the impact of an educational intervention programme on t he attitudes and knowledge of students aged 17-18 years from six secon dary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Using Palmore's Facts on Aging Q uiz to assess knowledge about and attitudes towards ageing in a quasi- experimental pre-test and post-test design, the results reveal that, i n general, students hold low knowledge about older people and negative attitudes about ageing. However, the pre-test mean knowledge scores d iffered significantly between male and female students and across the various schools, and students who had greater contact with grandparent s possessed slightly more knowledge. The post-test results show that t he intervention education programme was not successful in raising the student's level of knowledge. The results also show that, in general, the students hold negative attitudes towards older people and that the re was little change in their attitudes following the intervention pro gramme. The paper discusses the implications of these results regardin g curriculum development in education programmes on ageing intended fo r young people.