2015 Volume 37 Issue 1 Pages 3-16
A study on the validity and reliability of the geriatric attitude scale for co-medical students The views towards the elderly held by co-medical staff (nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists) and students who provide medium and long-term care for the elderly affect their attitudes about providing care. Furthermore, changes in co-medical students’ attitudes about care provision for the elderly will influence their later career choices. However, a scale reflecting the view of co-medical students towards the elderly has not yet been developed in Japan. In this study, we developed a geriatric attitude scale for co-medical students by referring to the UCLA-GAS and studied its reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis was done on the tentative version whose face validity was established after equivalent terms in translation were investigated. The exploratory factor analysis resulted in a scale of 10 items and 4 factors. The confirmatory factor analysis, with an index of goodness-of-fit of χ2 ＝ 19.16(p ＝ 0.58 ＞ 0.05, df ＝ 21), GFI ＝ 0.97, AGFI＝ 0.93, CFI＝ 1.00, and RMSEA＝ 0.00, showed high construct validity(using 9 items). Reliability testing demonstrated internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.74.
