%0 Journal Article
%T Perceptions on the importance of gerontological education by teachers and students of undergraduate health sciences
%A V¨ªctor Mendoza-N¨²£¿ez
%A Mar¨ªa Mart¨ªnez-Maldonado
%A Elsa Correa-Mu£¿oz
%J BMC Medical Education
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6920-7-1
%X A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 26 teachers and 122 undergraduate students. Subjects were administered interviews and responded survey instrument.A vast proportion of the teachers (42%) reported students' attitudes towards their academic training as the most important factor affecting learning in the field of gerontology, whereas students reported that the main problems of education in gerontology were theoretical (32%) and methodological (28%). In addition, 41% of students considered education on ageing matters as an essential element for their professional development, as compared to 19% of teachers (p < 0.05).Our findings suggest that the teachers' perceptions about the low importance of education on ageing matters for the professional practice of health sciences could be a negative factor for gerontology teaching.The demographic and epidemiological transitions throughout the world make it necessary to train professionals in the area of health sciences with a biological, psychological and social perspective about the ageing process [1-4]. Several studies in the field have emphasized the decisive role that students' perceptions and attitudes about ageing play in the achievement of educational outcomes [5-8]. However, the role of the teacher in this process has not been analyzed.The teaching-learning process is a lived experience involving the engagement with others in the acquisition of knowledge. It also includes the multidimensional processes of expanding one's imagination, naming the new, keeping up-to-date with advancements and shifts in the field, abiding paradox, constructing meaning, and getting involved in a continuous dialogue. In this sense, learning cannot be free from the context. Learning and its organization into an individual's personal knowledge system are highly dependent on the context in which things have been learned. Likewise, the intrinsic motivations associated with students' and teachers' perceptions are associated
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/7/1