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Older people’s needs are usually complicated by pre-existing physical, mental or social disability that may affect their health. With population aging, the demand for differentiated care from health professionals has increased; but these needs are not sufficiently addressed, particularly in developing countries [1]. Literature reveals that today’s dentists are not well disposed and consequently not well organized for the delivery of geriatric oral health care [2][3]. Although the majority of dental schools globally have elements of geriatric dentistry in their curriculum [4], they fail to appreciate that comprehensive oral health care for older people requires an understanding of overlapping health and psychosocial concerns.

INTRODUCTION

To analyze the perceptions of dental students about geriatric dental health care environment by comparing their knowledge and attitude

OBJECTIVES

A qualitative, exploratory-descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study approach was developed. The study was conducted in dental schools located in India (13), Malaysia (4), New Zealand (1), Taiwan (1), Cambodia (1), the Philippines (1), and Nepal (1). The instrument for assessing knowledge was taken from the 2015 revised Breytspraak’ Facts on Aging Quiz – based on Palmore (1977) instrument. Convenience sampling method was used and included all dental students from these 22 dental schools. It was hypothesized that at least 80% of the students surveyed had adequate knowledge on aging and a positive attitude towards geriatric dental care. Frequency analysis, mean and standard deviation and non-parametric tests (due to unequal sample size for countries)including Kruskal Wallis, One sample rank test and Wilcoxon test were applied. The level of significance was 5%.

METHODS

The sample (n=2141) mostly comprised of female students ( 73%) and in the 4th year (33%) of dental study, and 28% had not treated a geriatric patient yet. All students, irrespective of the year of study, demonstrated adequate knowledge. However, when comparing to the cut off 80 % achievement, except for New Zealand, all other countries had a lower difference (p<0.05). The level of attitude towards geriatric dental care was well below the cut off value (80%). Comparing between the level of attitude and the cutoff point (80 %), respondents from all participating countries demonstrated a significantly low level of attitude and the lowest belonged to Malaysia. Comparison between standardized scores of knowledge and attitude showed that there was a significant negative gap between attitude and knowledge among students for all countries except Cambodia (positive attitude). Negligible gap among students from India. The highest gap was among the Malaysian students followed by New Zealand.

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

Positive perception towards care for older adults by dental students may depend more on positive attitude to older people than increased knowledge about aging.Empathy and responsiveness to the need of the geriatric population must be emphasized in the curriculum as we enter the aging population era. Dental schools need to promote a comprehensive, holistic and integrated geriatric dentistry teaching-learning environment that supports the specialized needs of those who are frail and dependent. Knowledge and skills can be developed over time, but the right attitude from the outset is essential in life to achieve success.

REFERENCES

1. Moreira. A. et al. Knowledge and attitudes of dentists regarding ageing and the elderly. Gerodontology 2011; 29:e624 - e631.2. De Visschere, L., Van Der Putten, G.‐J., De Baat, C., Schols, J. and Vanobbergen, J. The impact of undergraduate geriatric dental education on the attitudes of recently graduated dentists towards institutionalised elderly people. European Journal of Dental Education, 2009; 13: 154-161.3. Fabiano, J.A., Waldrop, D.P., Nochajski, T.H., Davis, E.L. and Goldberg, L.J. Understanding Dental Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Older People: Toward a New Model of Geriatric Dental Education. Journal of Dental Education, 2005; 69: 419-433. 4. Shah, N. Teaching, Learning, and Assessment in Geriatric Dentistry: Researching Models of Practice. Journal of Dental Education, 2010; 74: 20-28

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT• Medical Ethics Committee, Faculty of Dentistry, UM. •All dental students who participated in this study• Callum S Durward (Cambodia), Surendra Manoharan (India), Kamal Shigli(India), Greame Ting (New Zealand), Shyam K Maharjan (Nepal), Lih-JyhFuh (Taiwan), Victor Francis "JV" Gregorio (Philippines)

Jacob JOHN*(1) Mahmoud DANAEE (2) Shani Ann MANI (3)(1) Dept. of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2) Dept. of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Malaysia (3) Dept. of Paediatric Dentistry

& Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Malaysia

Dental students’ perception of care of geriatric patients – a comparative study involving seven nations3232

60.71

68.69 75.06 71.4377.02

70.96 73.4575.25

67.4756.15

62.50 61.29 60.66 63.32

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Cambodia India Malaysia Nepal New Zealand Philippines Taiwan

Geriatric Knowledge vs Attitude towards Geriatrics

Knowledge Attitude

Country N Knowledge Attitude Z p value Diff%

Cambodia 100 60.71 75.25 -4.808b <0.001 14.5357

India 1365 68.69 67.47 -2.018c 0.044 -1.2141

Malaysia 378 75.06 56.15-

12.840c0.000

-18.9059

Nepal 52 71.43 62.50 -3.037c 0.002 -8.9286

New Zealand 93 77.02 61.29 -5.227c <0.00-

15.7283

Philippines 61 70.96 60.66 -3.171c 0.002-

10.3045

Taiwan 92 73.45 63.32 -2.936c 0.003 -10.132

Knowledge vs Attitude

Geriatric Knowledge vs Attitude towards Geriatrics