Perception of Old Age in German Undergraduate Dental Students—A Comparison of Two Cohorts 10 Years Apart

Sophia Weber,Ina Nitschke,Sebastian Hahnel,Angelika Rauch

doi:10.3390/ijerph18063279

Abstract

Previous studies revealed that students’ willingness to provide dental services for older patients is mainly influenced by their individual perception of elders rather than their knowledge about old age. The aim of this study was to estimate students’ perception of old and young age as well as their hopes and fears associated with old age and to compare two cohorts that participated in the study 10 years apart. Data were obtained from a questionnaire completed by two cohorts of undergraduate dental students from 2006 to 2008 (T1, n = 207) and 2016 to 2018 (T2, n = 135). Participants were asked to define the ages that they consider a man or woman to be old and young. Moreover, they had to specify their fears and hopes associated with old age. Reported thresholds for old age differed significantly between T1 and T2. In contrast to T1 students, T2 students defined a person to be old at a higher age and barely differentiated between the old ages of men and women. Furthermore, T2 students presented more fears related to aging than T1 students, e.g., psychological problems or loss of independence. The perception of age appears to be a multifactorial process and significantly changed between students of T1 and T2. Fears of dental students regarding old age should be addressed in, e.g., gerodontological curricula, to foster positive experiences in interaction with older people and highlight the important and rewarding aspects of gerodontology.

Highlights

Demographic changes are leading to a shift in the population pyramid; in 1997, only15.8% of the German population were older than 65 years, while there was an increase to21.4% in 2018 [1]
According to the United Nations, an older person is defined as “a person who is over 60 years of age” [2], whereas the most important German epidemiological study on oral health refers to older people when reaching the age of 65 years [3]
The results of this investigation revealed a statistically significant change in perception of old age and hopes and fears associated with old age when comparing the two cohorts (2006–2008 and 2016–2018) of undergraduate dental students

Summary

Introduction

Demographic changes are leading to a shift in the population pyramid; in 1997, only15.8% of the German population were older than 65 years, while there was an increase to21.4% in 2018 [1]. 15.8% of the German population were older than 65 years, while there was an increase to. According to the United Nations, an older person is defined as “a person who is over 60 years of age” [2], whereas the most important German epidemiological study on oral health refers to older people when reaching the age of 65 years [3]. The number of older adults is still rising as high birth rates in Germany from 1950 to 1970 are leading to more people who are between 50 and 70 years old [4]. Intensive oral health promotion measures in Germany have led to less edentulous patients within older people [3,6].

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Conclusion