GENERAL PRACTITIONER ATTITUDE TOWARD ELDERS: USING KOGAN'S ATTITUDES QUESTIONNAIRE

Health staffs have different attitudes and beliefs toward elders that have effect on their behaviors in health service delivery to elders. This study was done for determination of Golestan province health centers general practitioners (GPs) attitude toward elders. In this cross sectional study, 152 general practitioners of Golestan province health centers were selected via random sampling. The Kogan's Attitudes toward Older People Scale (KAOPS) questionnaire was used as data gathering tools. Data analysis was done in SPSS 16 software using Pearson correlation coefficient, paired t-test, t-tests and one way ANOVA test. Mean (standard deviation) of participants age was 34.73 (6.26) years. Mean (standard deviation) of total score of attitude toward elder scale was 115.48 (10.22) (score range in scale 34-204). 54.2 percent of GPs have lower score than mean. Negative attitude mean score were higher than positive attitude mean score which was statistically significant (P= 0.0001). According to our finding, only half of GPs had favorite attitude toward elder. Whereas negative attitudes were higher than positive attitude toward elder, designing some programs for change in attitude of heath care staffs is necessary.