Are Future Occupational Therapists Sufficiently Prepared to Take Care of Older Adults: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract With the population aging, it is necessary to train future healthcare professionals to properly care for the growing number of older adults. One challenge is that age stereotypes are commonly found among healthcare professionals, making it diffi cult to adequately care for this population. Even so, age stereotypes among occupational therapy undergraduate students are rarely explored. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the prevalence of negative age stereotypes in a sample of occupational therapy undergraduate students in Spain. Method: 93 Spanish undergraduate students in occupational therapy completed the Negative Age Stereotypes Assessment Questionnaire (abbreviation from its Spanish name: CENVE), which consists of 15 items and 3 dimensions scale (Health, Temperament and personality and Motivation/social), to evaluate existing age stereotypes. Descriptive analyses of these stereotypes were conducted. Results: The results reveal a high percentage of students reporting negative age stereotypes (between 12.9% and 20.4% of the sample), with negative health stereotypes were the most common dimension (33.4%), and followed by temperament and personality (30.1%) and motivation/social (19.4%). Conclusion: The results suggest a high presence of ageist stereotypes in future occupational therapists, leading to a number of practical implications of the study.

Highlights - 20.4% of undergraduate students in occupational therapy hold negative stereotypes towards older adults. - The dimension of the CENVE scale with the highest prevalence was the health dimension (33.4%). - Due to the age population, it is crucial to train future health professionals to adequately care for older adults.