Attitude and Knowledge of Medical Sciences Students Toward the Disabled Elderly

Attitude and knowledge of the different groups of society play an important role in facilitating living conditions and meeting the needs of the disabled elderly. The current study aimed to evaluate the attitude and knowledge of medical sciences students toward the disabled elderly from different angles. Ninety students from Semnan University of Medical Sciences, 60 females and 30 males, participated in the current study. To evaluate the attitude of the population understudy “the Scale of Attitudes toward Disabled People (SADP)” 24-item questionnaire was employed, and the results were analyzed by descriptive statistics. According to the results of the current study, 14.5% of the population understudy advised the elderly not to show in public due to traffic problems, or had no idea in this regard. Also, 56.66% of the subjects believed that the government should cover the elderly costs; and 78.9% of the subjects believed that the design of the governmental offices and public places were not suitable for the elderly. Also, 80% recommended that the disabled elderly should live with their families. The results of the current study showed that the level of knowledge among students varied regarding the needs and factors affecting social participation of the elderly. According to the results of the current study, only 50% of the participants had proper attitude toward the elderly problems.