Resumo

SERRANI AZCURRA, Daniel. Task: Observing the Older Adult. A Pedagogical Tool for Changing Ageist Attitudes in Psychology Students. REDIE [online]. 2011, vol.13, n.1, pp.71-85. ISSN 1607-4041.

The ageist attitudes of students represent an obstacle to the development of the knowledge and empathy required for assisting the elderly. The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in explicit/implicit attitudes and knowledge regarding older people, in a sample of psychology students before and after they carried out a practical task called "Observing the Older Adult" (TOAM). To this end, we evaluated the changes in explicit knowledge with Palmore's Facts on Aging Quizzes 1 and 2 (FAQs1-2); the changes in explicit attitudes with Kogan's Scale for Attitudes Toward Old People (SATOP); and the Age Group Evaluation and Description (AGED) Inventory. The subsequent changes in implicit attitudes were evaluated with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The changes were measured one week, three months, one year and two years after completing the TOAM with ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. After the TOAM was carried out, positive changes were observed in knowledge and explicit attitudes toward seniors, but implicit attitudes remained negative in the first assessment, and were modified only after a year.

Palavras-chave : Adult development; ageist attitudes; educational research; Psicology.