Correlation between attitude towards dental care for older adults and ageism in dental students and clinical trainees: Cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Since the needs for dental care among older adults in Japan are expected to increase in the future, this study aimed to examine the influence of ageism among dental students and clinical trainees on the attitude towards the older adults in dental care. In 2022, we conducted a questionnaire survey of 9th-, 11th-semester dental students and first-year clinical trainees enrolled at Kyushu Dental University, using the Japanese version of Ageism Scale for Dental Students (ASDS-J), Japanese version of Fraboni Scale of Ageism (FSA-J). Questions on intention to provide dental care to the older adults, relationships with the older adults and living with the older adults were also surveyed. There were 162 participants (84 males and 78 females), and the response rate was 71.7%. The participants were divided into the positive group for dental care to older adults (68 respondents) and the negative group (94 respondents). The ASDS-J score of the negative group was significantly higher than that of the positive group [49 (36-66) vs. 52 (34-88), p < .001]. The binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds ratio of being negative attitude was 1.1 per one point of ASDS-J (95% confidence interval: 1.0-1.2) in the model adjusted for student grade, interaction with the older adults, gender, experience living with the older adults and FSA-J. These findings suggest that ageism specific to dental students and clinical trainees (as assessed using the ASDS-J) was independently correlated with negative attitudes towards dental care for older adults.