• Chanchai Hosanguan , D.D.S., M.S.

Objective  The purposes of this investigation were to evaluate dental students’ attitudes toward the elderly and to develop measuring instruments for these attitudes.

Materials and methods  Self-administered questionnaires were obtained from 188 first year dental students and 138 sixth year dental students from 4 dental schools. Attitudes toward the elderly were measured on (1) stereotypes, (2) affect toward the elderly in general, (3) affect toward the elderly patients, and (4) behavioral intention. Factor analysis was employed to analyze measurement properties of attitude indexes. Comparisons of attitudes between student groups were performed with non-parametric tests.

Results  Thai dental students hold positive attitudes toward elderly patients, both in affect and in behavioral intention attitudes. The sixth year dental students expressed a significantly more positive affect toward elderly patients than did the first year dental students (p<0.001). Regarding the behavioral intention attitude, however, the sixth year students showed a significantly less positive attitude than did the first year students (p = 0.03).

Conclusion  Clinical year dental students hold a significantly different attitudes toward elderly patients than did non-clinical year dental students.

(CU Dent J 2001;24:31-42)