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Attitudes and beliefs toward aging among undergraduate students from the education and health fields: curriculum planning contributions

The aim of this paper is describe and compare the undergraduates' attitudes and beliefs toward aging. Two hundred and seventy seven students (190 women) aged from 18 to 43 (M=23; SD=3,39) have participated in this investigation. Fifty percentagem of them had attended to disciplines; 60% studied aging issues; 62% had social contacts and 32% worked with aged people. The instruments were a) Semantic differential: 30 bi-polar items (DSS) reflecting agency, cognition, social relations and social image; b) Knowledge scale: 25 multiple choice items reflecting physical, psychological and sociological knowledge. The according to the results: a) Positive attitudes, mostly among the youngest, women and those who lived close to aged people; b) Aging right answers low rate (M=41%, SD=10,3%); c) Those that have studied aging matters( Nursing, Physical Education and Medicine students) knew more than those who did not (Education); d) Attitudes and knowledge were positively and significantly correlated. It was concluded that aging attendance and education depends on the offering of opportunities and knowledge structure.

Aged, attitudes toward aging; Beliefs toward aging; Gerontology; Undergraduate students


Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas Editora Splendet, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, Campus I, Rua Prof. Dr. Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini, 1516, Pq. Rural Fazenda Santa Cândida, Telefone: (55 19) 3343-7223. - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: psychologicalstudies@puc-campinas.edu.br