Are optometric faculty guilty of ageism?

Ageism (negative feelings toward the elderly) is common among health care students and impacts upon the delivery of health care. Education serves to promote positive attitudes toward the elderly and alleviates ageism. As role models, faculty in the health professions influence student attitudes and can affect the development of ageism in students. This study was designed to evaluate whether optometric faculty are guilty of ageism. Twenty-nine optometry faculty and 83 optometry students were surveyed using Palmore's "Facts on Aging Quiz: Part 1" (FAQ1). The mean percent score for faculty was 64.14% as compared to a student mean percent score of 63.96% (p = 0.9422, t-test). The faculty also exhibited a larger anti-age bias than the students. Thus, optometry faculty do possess prejudicial attitudes toward older adults and would benefit from increased education in the field of geriatrics.