School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, Amherst, NY 14260, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2011 Oct;75(10):1329-32.
This study was an extension of a previous study that considered dental student attitudes about older adults. In the current study, the association of student interactions with older adults, in both the dental school clinic and daily life, with their attitudes about this group was evaluated using the Aging Semantic Differential. A total of 311 dental students across all four years of academic standing were included in the study. The results showed that students' interactions with older adults outside the clinic did not relate to positive attitudes; however, even after controlling for the age of the student and the frequency, type of individual, and context of interactions with older adults outside the dental clinic, the number of older adult patients seen in the clinic showed a significant positive relationship with attitudes towards older adults. These results reinforce the conclusions drawn in a previous study that dental students' general attitudes about older adults may be changed, but that it is the exposure to older adults in a clinical setting that seems to be more critical in shaping these attitudes.
本研究是对先前研究的延伸，该研究关注牙科学生对老年人的态度。在当前的研究中，使用老化语义差异评估了学生与老年人的互动（无论是在牙科诊所还是日常生活中）与他们对这一群体的态度之间的关联。共有来自四个年级的 311 名牙科学生参与了这项研究。结果表明，学生在诊所之外与老年人的互动与积极态度无关；然而，即使控制了学生的年龄、与老年人互动的频率、类型和个体以及背景，在诊所中看到的老年患者数量与对老年人的态度呈显著正相关。这些结果强化了先前研究的结论，即牙科学生对老年人的一般态度可能会改变，但在临床环境中接触老年人似乎更能影响这些态度。
