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PHYSICAL THERAPY STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARD OLDER PEOPLE AND CONSIDERING GERIATRIC PHYSICAL THERAPY AS CAREER

Humaira Firdous, Dr. Shahzad Ahmad, Husna Haroon, Sajid Mehmood, Hafiz Muhammad Asim

Background: Now a day, when life style has been shifted, health care for elderly has become challenging. The advance age all visceral and somatic systems suffer deterioration due to aging, among which neuromuscular and musculoskeletal are prominent. Physical therapy students are potentially a part of health care system that can help elderly alleviate these problems. Objective: To find out the attitudes of physical therapy students towards older people and possible career choice. Methods: The study design was Cross Section Survey. Data was collected from Colleges affiliated with University of Health Sciences, Lahore. Sampling method was Convenience Sampling Technique. The study was completed in a duration of six months after the approval of synopsis. SPSS version 20.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Results showed that students of doctor of physical therapy program had positive attitude towards old people 68.9% having interest in joining geriatrics in physical therapy as career. Average percentage of agreement showed 62.68%, which is fairly positive attitude. Conclusion: The findings of study concluded there found fairly positive attitude towards elderly however, there is also deficit and students should be trained to accept problems of elderly. Interestingly, majority students expressed their interest for working in geriatrics as career after graduation. Keywords: Physical Therapy, Attitude, Career Choice, Elderly, Geriatrics

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