Abstract

FERNANDEZ, Enrique; PADILLA, Paula; MONARDES, Héctor  and  DIAZ, Carlos. Attitude towards the elderly in the undegraduates of the faculty of Dentistry, University San Sebastián, Santiago. Rev. Estomatol. Herediana [online]. 2017, vol.27, n.1, pp.21-29. ISSN 1019-4355.  http://dx.doi.org/10.20453/reh.v27i1.3099.

Gerontology is the study of aging in the psychological, sociological and economic fields. From the sphere of sociology, the term ageism was conceived, and it refers to the process of systematic stereotyping and discriminating people just because they are old. Several demographic projections indicate a steady growth of the older adult population, and old age is thus of great importance. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of the students at the Dentistry School of San Sebastian University in Santiago, towards the elderly. Materials and Methods: Kogan attitudes scale (KAOP) validated in Spanish was applied to 158 students from three different cohorts of the school. Results: Dentistry students who took part in this study reported having, on average, a negative attitude toward the elderly (KAOP value of 131.73). There were no statistically significant differences by gender or academic year of the students in the observed data.Conclusions:The attitude toward the elderly observed among Dentistry students of San Sebastian University in Santiago, are negative, without differences by gender or academic level. Further studies are needed, to elucidate its possible causes.

Keywords : Ageism; attitude; stereotyping; dentistry school.

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