Transcultural adaptation and validation of a French version of the University of California, Los Angeles geriatrics attitudes scale (UCLA-GAS-F).
Emmanuelle Opsommer, Odile Chevalley, Irene Pegito and 1 others
PMID 34493332WHAT IT FOUND
The French version of the geriatrics attitudes scale gives stable results when students repeat it after a week.
However, its individual questions do not work together well enough to produce a reliable total score. Do not use the total score for high-stakes decisions.
Key findings
01The scale showed good test-retest reliability, meaning students gave similar total scores when they completed it again one week later.
02The internal consistency of the French version was lower than the accepted cut-off value, indicating the items do not measure a single unified attitude reliably.
03The original four-part structure of the scale did not fit the data for the French version.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study only included undergraduate physiotherapy students from one school in Switzerland, so the results may not apply to other health professions or countries. The sample size was small for the complex statistical checks used to verify the scale's structure. The students may have answered in a way they thought was socially acceptable rather than reflecting their true feelings. The study did not follow students over a long period, so it is unknown if the scale can detect changes in attitude over time.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the French scale is fully validated just because it is a translation of a widely used English tool. The internal consistency was poor, meaning the questions do not reliably measure the same underlying attitude together. A low total score in an individual student may reflect the scale's weakness rather than a negative attitude towards older people.