Attitudes of occupational therapy students toward older people in Hong Kong

Abstract

The main objectives of this survey were to examine the attitudes of Hong Kong occupational therapy students toward older people and their perception of working with older clients. A questionnaire, with 23 statements related to these two areas, was designed and distributed to all three‐year occupational therapy students during the first week of the academic year. Results found that the third year students were more positive in perceiving older people and showed greater interest in working with older clients (F=7.681, p<0.001; and F=8.05, p<0.005 respectively). Similar results were also obtained in those students who had clinical experiences with older clients in the above two areas (t=2.40, p<0.01; and t=2.47, p<0.01). Hence, a positive relationship between the education programme (including subjects taught and fieldwork experience) and students' perception of older people was confirmed. However, the feedback mechanism of these two components in the teaching curriculum requires further research. Copyright © 1995 Whurr Publishers Ltd.