Reliability and Validity of a Japanese Version of `Attitudes Towards the Elderly' Scale

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a study that examined the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of Kogan's Scale of Attitudes Towards the Elderly (ATE). The ATE scale measures the affective attitude component towards the elderly and contains 17 paired positive and negative statements to be responded to in a six-point range, from strongly agree to strongly disagree. A convenience sample of 314 practising physiotherapists in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, participated in this study, and data were collected by means of a mailed ATE questionnaire. The reliability of the scale was assessed as homogeneity, and its validity as construct validity. The rate of return was 57.3%, of which the number of men was 79 (43.9%) and women 101 (56.1%). The mean (SD) number of years of the respondents' clinical experience was 8.9 (7.3) ranging from 0.5 to 37.9. All of the 34 items were found to have significant item-to-total correlations (p<0.01). The Cronbach's alpha reliability estimates for the total scale, positive items and negative items were 0.87, 0.86 and 0.85, respectively. Some evidence for construct validity was found in the three-factor solution, which explained 30.7% of the variances. The factors derived from Spearman's rank correlation and factor analysis were `prejudice,' `appreciation,' and `expectation,' with the rate of contribution (Cronbach's alpha) being 14.0% (0.84), 8.7% (0.77), and 8.0% (0.74), respectively. The result of a multiple regression analysis indicated that neither the amount of clinical practice, the gender nor cohabitation with the elderly had any influence on the ATE of the respondents. This precluded the verification of convergent validity. From the results of this current study group, the Japanese version of the ATE scale can be considered a reliable and valid measure of documenting trends of importance for the care of the elderly.