Attitudes towards ageing of speech-language pathology students in a Chilean University

Abstract

Purpose: Describe the attitudes towards ageing of senior undergraduate Speech-language Pathology students in a Chilean University. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which the validated Spanish version of the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (KAOP) was applied to 43 students in the aforementioned course. The average scores were compared for the variables gender and interaction with the elderly. Results: A trend towards a positive attitude was observed. No differences were found for the variables described. An analysis was carried out with the items in which trends towards negative attitude were reported, and the implications were discussed. Conclusion: Although a positive attitude was reported, aspects of student academic training should be more comprehensively studied with a view to improving the quality of assistance provided to the elderly.