Population ageing is a major social problem of the modern world. While it affects nearly all regions and countries around the world, it is not an evenly distributed process. This phenomenon has been the most pronounced in Europe (Borsch-Supan, Hartl & Ludwig, 2014).

The problem of population ageing has become a key problem in social assistance work today. The attitude of the society towards elderly persons is an indicator of the progress, culture and pure humanity of a society (Kanios, 2018).

When discussing beliefs about the standing of elderly persons in society, it should be noted that they belong to a group at risk of social exclusion. On many occasions, they experience various kinds of discrimination based on age. Discrimination of elderly persons in Poland is manifested in several ways. They are regarded as less useful than younger people; their needs and significance are downplayed because they “have lived long enough”. The access to the job market is more difficult for elderly persons. They are marginalized in social and family life (they are placed in care homes) and their standing in society is low (diminishing respect, growing indifference or even aversion to the elderly and old age, i.e. the so-called gerontophobia) (Stypińska & Turek, 2017; Turek & Perek-Bialas, 2013).

In this paper, the term ‘beliefs’ is construed as in Marody (1976), according to whom beliefs are a manifestation of attitudes towards a specific object.

Previous Research

Changes in attitudes in society towards elderly persons can be currently observed. For many years, researchers have indicated the existence of negative attitudes towards the elderly (Butler, 1980; Kogan, 1961; Palmore, 2005; Tuckman & Lorge, 1952). The term ‘ageism’, i.e. stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination of people based on age, came into use as early as the 1960s (Butler, 1969). Research shows that this phenomenon can affect persons of any age even though most frequently, it applies to old age (Nelson, 2003). The negative attitude of society to elderly persons also arises from gerontophobia, i.e. projection of fear of old age and death on the elderly (Bunzel, 1972; Nelson, 2003).

Parallel to the reports on negative attitudes towards senior citizens, more recent studies on the subject report results indicating positive, neutral, ambivalent or complex attitudes to this age group, depending on various factors, e.g. what aspects of elderly persons are evaluated, or whether the evaluation concerns elderly persons in general or a specific elderly individual personally known to the respondent (Carstensen & Hartel, 2006; Cuddy & Fishke, 2004; Cuddy, Norton, & Fishke, 2005; Hummert, 1990; North & Fiske, 2012; Perlmutter & Hall, 1992; Schmidt & Boland, 1986).

Many researchers hold the view that the social standing of elderly persons in contemporary Western societies is changing (Perlmutter & Hall, 1992). Surveys of youth’s attitudes to elderly persons indicate that these attitudes are neutral or generally positive. They also show that these attitudes are influenced by the age of young people. Education for old age plays a considerable role in this respect (Body, 2017; Darling, Sendir, Atav & Buyukyilmaz, 2018; Momtaz, Mousavi-Shirazi, Mollaei & Delbari, 2019).

Generally speaking, an attitude means a stance taken by an individual in relation to a specific object–object of the attitude (Bohner &Wänke, 2004).

Method

The survey was conducted as part of a research project, implemented under the auspices of the Committee for Pedagogical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, on “Youth vis-à-vis to contemporary dangers in societal life”. The survey was conducted using the diagnostic survey method and questionnaire technique in Poland between September 2018 and February 2019.

The research objective of the survey was to assess youth’s beliefs about the social functioning of elderly persons in the area of healthcare and social assistance, while the practical objective was to prepare practical recommendations for educational work aimed at counteracting negative beliefs concerning elderly persons.

The survey focused on the key research problem: What are the beliefs of young people about the functioning of elderly persons and are there any differences in this respect between secondary school youth and higher education students?

The research hypothesis assumed that there are differences between the youth groups surveyed with regard to their beliefs about elderly persons, and that higher education students hold more mature views on the functioning of senior citizens (cf. Augustin & Freshman, 2016; Kanios, 2018; Mullen, Nicolson & Cotton, 2010).

The survey instrument used was a survey questionnaire about the beliefs of young people on persons at risk of social exclusion, created by Anna Kanios. The questionnaire consists of forty statements. It was used to survey youth’s beliefs about the functioning of elderly persons in the labor market, healthcare, social assistance and wider space of societal life. This paper concerns two of the above areas, namely healthcare and social assistance.

The study encompassed secondary school and higher education students. The survey groups were chosen using random and non-random sampling. It was attempted to obtain a similar number of respondents in each group. The main criterion for sampling the respondents was: final-year students of secondary schools with different profiles and post-secondary school students from the last year of second-cycle studies and uniform master’s degree studies in the humanities and social sciences, life sciences, technical and exact sciences. Furthermore, it was attempted to ensure that various local communities were represented.

Towns and cities in Poland were divided according to population size and the following ones were included in the survey: up to 100 thousand inhabitants (Sosnowiec, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, Komornica); from 101 to 200 thousand inhabitants (Opole, Rzeszów); from 201 to 500 thousand inhabitants (Częstochowa, Białystok, Lublin); more than 500 thousand inhabitants (Warszawa, Kraków Wrocław, Katowice).

The Statistical Analyses Used

Pearson’s chi-square test, with its wide practical and theoretical applications, was used to search for statistically significant correlations between the beliefs of secondary school students and higher education students (Brzeziński, 2020; Ferguson & Takane, 2009).

In the case of Pearson’s chi-square test of independence, the following assumptions were adopted:

  • if χ2 > χ2(α, ν), the variables are dependent on a statistically significant level;

  • if χ2 < χ2(α, ν), there are no grounds to identify a statistically significant correlation where: χ2—empirical value, χ2(α, ν)—theoretical (critical) value, α—significance level, ν—degrees of freedom. All calculations were made using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Survey Results

1084 respondents participated in the study: most of them were women (781 persons, i.e. 72%), while less than one third (303 persons, i.e. 28%) were men.

The respondents were from localities that varied in terms of population. 38.9% of the respondents (422 persons) lived in rural areas while 31.1% (337 persons) were inhabitants of a large town or city. The remainder lived in a small (144 persons, i.e. 13.3%) and medium-sized town (181 persons, i.e. 16.7%).

In terms of the level of education, 54.2% (588 persons) were secondary school students while 45.8% (496 persons) were higher education students.

As far as higher education institutions are concerned, the largest proportion of the respondents attended universities (40.7%), with a smaller proportion of students attending technical universities and higher vocational schools. Among secondary school students, 38.9% attended a secondary school of general education while 15.3% attended a secondary technical school.

Healthcare and social assistance are the key areas of the functioning of elderly persons in society. These two areas were considered in the diagnosis of beliefs among secondary school youth and higher education students.

Youth’s Beliefs About the Functioning of Elderly Persons in Healthcare

An empirical analysis showed that the secondary school youth and higher education students manifested varied beliefs about the functioning of elderly persons in healthcare. A clear majority of the university students (68%) did not agree with the statement that expensive surgeries, treatments and testing should not always be undertaken in relation to elderly persons. A smaller proportion of secondary school students (56.6%) opposed this statement. It is worth noting that as many as one quarter of the youth had difficulty taking an unequivocal stance on this issue.

The next problem was the availability of hospital care for senior citizens in Poland. Secondary school students were divided in their opinions: about one third (34.1%) did not agree with the statement that children and young people should be given priority in the case of lack of beds in hospitals, but a very similar percentage (33.2%) agreed with this view. This means that, in the opinion of young persons, children and youth should be admitted to hospitals first in case of illness or life threat. A similar percentage of the high school students (32.8%) had difficulty expressing their opinion on this issue. Higher education students demonstrated a different point of view. The largest percentage of respondents in this group (40.1%) had difficulty taking a stance on this issue and a similar percentage (39.2%) did not agree with giving young people priority access to hospital treatment. Only one fifth of the respondents in this group (20.7%) agreed with the statement.

Both groups of respondents expressed more similar views on the elderly persons’ access to expensive medicines. A clear majority of the respondents (73.4% of the higher education students and 66.7% of the secondary school students) did not agree with the statement that the state should not subsidize medicines for elderly persons aged over 80. A relatively small proportion of the youth (18.5% of the secondary school students and 16.5% of the higher education students) chose the answer “difficult to say”. 14.8% of the secondary school youth and 10% of the higher education students expressed the view that the state should not subsidize medicines for people in advanced old age.

A stereotypical perception of elderly persons is also manifested in the belief that the medical treatment of an elderly patient is more expensive than that of a younger person or child. The surveyed youth did not express clear views on this issue. Nearly half of the high school youth (46.9%) and more than half of the university students (54.4%) chose the answer “difficult to say”. It is worth noting that nearly one third (31.6%) of the secondary school youth and nearly one quarter (23.5%) of the higher education students agreed with the statement above while one out of five respondents was against it.

The problems of many elderly persons are downplayed in Poland, which was also reflected in this survey. Nearly half of the youth surveyed (46.1% of the higher education and 44% of the high school students) believed that elderly persons very often see a doctor because of their desire to talk rather than due to an illness. A slightly smaller proportion of young people—32.5% of the high school students and 35.1% of the higher education students—did not express a clear opinion on this matter. The smallest group of respondents—nearly one quarter of the high school youth (23.4%) and nearly one fifth (18.7%) of the university students—did not agree with the statement above.

Young people were also divided in their responses concerning the elderly persons’ perception of their ageing process. As many as 42.6% of the higher education students and 40.7% of the high school youth agreed with the statement that elderly persons mistake symptoms of ageing with illnesses. Less than half of the respondents (41.3% of the high school youth and 45.8% of the university students) had difficulty expressing an unequivocal opinion. The smallest proportion of the respondents, i.e. 18% of the secondary school youth and 11.7% of the university students disagreed with the statement.

It is evident that the family is the best environment for elderly persons to live in. If the family fails, or in the case of advanced illnesses, elderly persons are placed in geriatric care facilities (Gray, 2003).

In this context, the youth were asked about beliefs about the fulfilment of elderly persons’ needs in the family environment and the institutional environment. The survey reveals that a majority of youth (64% of the higher education students and 58.1% of the secondary school students) believed that elderly persons staying at geriatric care facilities receive all the necessary assistance (as in a family environment). A considerable proportion of the respondents (one third of the high school youth and less than one third of the university students) did not express a clear view on this matter. Few young people (8.7% of the high school youth and 7.6% of the university students) were against treating family care and institutional care of senior citizens as being of equal rank.

A vast majority of youth—both from secondary schools (70.8%) and universities (77%)—believed that geriatrics should be included in the curricula of medical study programs so that future medical graduates are in a better position to help elderly persons.

Less than one quarter (23.6%) of the secondary school youth and one sixth (15.1%) of the higher education students did not have a clear view on this issue. A very small proportion of the respondents, i.e. 5.6% of the secondary school youth and 7.8% of the university students, disagreed with the statement (see Table 1).

Table 1 Youth’s beliefs about elderly persons: healthcare (data in %)
Full size table

Youth’s Beliefs of on the Functioning of Elderly Persons in Social Assistance

Social assistance is another extremely important area of the functioning of elderly persons. In this context, youth’s beliefs about the perception of senior citizens seem to be interesting. Empirical analyses show that youth’s beliefs on this subject are varied. Nearly half of the secondary school students surveyed (46.8%) and less than one third (31%) of the higher education students believe that elderly persons are difficult clients of social assistance. A considerable proportion of the respondents (37.6% of the high school youth and 42.3% of the university students) had difficulty expressing an unequivocal opinion. The smallest proportion (14.6%) of the secondary school youth and 25.8% of the higher education students disagreed with the statement.

The young people surveyed also manifested divergent views concerning the needs of elderly persons. A vast majority of the university students (75.4%) and slight majority of the high school students (56.7%) expressed accurate views on the needs of elderly persons and disagreed with the statement that the fulfilment of just the basic needs (food and sense of security) is sufficient for the normal functioning of senior citizens. An opinion to the contrary was expressed by one out of five high school students (21.6%) and nearly one out of ten university students (9.8%). 21.8% of the secondary school students and 15.1% of the higher education students did not have a clear opinion of this issue.

Another issue was the attitude of elderly persons to the assistance provided by care workers. A larger proportion of the youth surveyed, 39.1% of the secondary school students and 45% of the university students, were unable to say whether elderly persons appreciated the assistance received from social workers. A similar proportion of the respondents, i.e. 41.6% of the secondary school youth and 39.5% of the university students, disagreed with the statement. A small number of the respondents agreed with the statement.

The respondents also expressed different beliefs concerning the efficacy of assistance work with people of different ages. The higher education students manifested more mature beliefs in this respect. The analyses show that the largest proportion of the university students (45.9%) disagreed with the statement that “work with elderly persons is less efficient than with younger adults and children.” 38.8% of the high school youth did not express a clear view on this issue while about one third agreed with the statement.

The next issue was the introduction of standards of social work with elderly persons. A clear majority of the university students (65.3%) and more than half of the high school students (51.7%) believed that senior citizens need this solution. As many as 35.9% of the secondary school students and 27.6% of the university students found it difficult to take a stance.

As far as beliefs about assistance to elderly persons are concerned, the secondary school youth and university students manifested similar views. One third of the high school students (33.3%) and nearly 30% (29.6%) of the university students held the view that assistance should not be limited to the basic set of care services.

The survey ended with the issue of placing elderly persons in care facilities and undertaking cooperation for families with elderly persons.

The youth surveyed presented similar views about placing elderly persons in social assistance centers. The largest proportion (41.5% of the secondary school students and 49.4% of the university students) did not express a clear view on the issue. Nearly one third of the youth (31.5% of the high school students and 30.3% of the university students) were against such a measure. The smallest proportion, i.e. over one quarter of the secondary school youth and one fifth of the higher education students regarded placing elderly persons in care facilities as the right thing to do.

A vast majority of youth (80.4% of the university and 70.5% of the high school students) concurred with regard to cooperation of social assistance workers with other specialists (community nurses, assistants to elderly persons) to support elderly persons and their families (see Table 2).

Table 2 Youth’s beliefs about elderly persons: social assistance (data in %)
Full size table

Discussion

The presented survey shows that both youth groups (secondary school and higher education students) held varied beliefs about the functioning of elderly persons. In the case of healthcare, the first area to be analyzed, higher education students demonstrated more mature beliefs. Most of them held the view that treatments and surgeries should be financed regardless of the patient’s age. The groups surveyed also differed with regard to beliefs about the availability of hospital care for elderly persons. Although the views of university students were more thought-through, it is worth noting that a considerable proportion of this group found it difficult to take an unequivocal stance on this issue.

Elderly patients require comprehensive treatment, short-term and long-term care. Such a holistic approach to satisfying the needs of senior citizens is faced with challenges, particularly in the light of the government’s budget problems. According to a stereotypical belief, elderly patients are expensive. It is comforting that the young people surveyed did not manifest stereotypical beliefs and most of them were against limiting government funding of medicines to people not older than 80. It is worth noting, however, that some secondary school students agreed with this stereotypical view. It should be stressed that statistically significant differences (p = .000) occurred between the secondary school youth and the higher education students with regard to the issues analyzed.

When one examines the distribution of funds in healthcare in Poland, one often has an impression that elderly persons are the last in the queue for medical services. Therefore, young people were asked what they thought about the funding of the treatment of elderly persons. The respondents were unable to express a clear opinion on this issue. Unfortunately, nearly half of the respondents, both high school and university students, held stereotypical views and believed that senior citizens were seeing the doctor in order to talk rather than due to an illness.

Most of the youth surveyed thought that staying at a geriatric care facility ensured the fulfilment of all the needs of the elderly to a similar degree as in a family environment. This is difficult to achieve in Polish conditions, however. It is important for young people to be aware that these environments are totally different, and the most important issue is to ensure an appropriate environment for senior citizens—appropriate to their needs.

The reasons for the worse treatment of elderly persons in healthcare include the lack of a suitable system for the verification of candidates for medical studies and a flawed teaching curriculum. Geriatrics is not a mandatory subject at many medical universities, and the program for general practitioners contains just a token number of hours dedicated to this geriatrics. In this respect, both higher education and secondary education students demonstrated mature attitudes and agreed that the future medical staff should have knowledge in the field of geriatrics.

The other area analyzed were youth’s beliefs about the functioning of elderly persons in social assistance. As the survey indicates, university students showed more mature views also in this respect. Only a small percentage of these students believed that elderly persons were difficult clients of social assistance, which shows their greater knowledge in this respect in comparison with high school youth. A clear majority of higher education students believed that age was irrelevant to the degree of the fulfilment of needs. University students also manifested a greater awareness with regard to the efficiency of work with senior citizens. They disagreed with the thesis about the lower efficiency of work with this age group in comparison to work with children and youth. It can also be observed that the high school students were more divided in their views on this issue, and more of them did not have a clear opinion. In the case of opinions on the introduction of social work standards, the situation is similar. The survey results for both groups are satisfactory although the university youth manifested appropriate, more mature beliefs to a greater extent. It should be stressed that statistically significant differences (p = .000) occurred between the two youth groups with regard to the four issues mentioned above.

On the other hand, similar views can be observed with regard to the other issues analyzed. The respondents had difficulty expressing a clear view on the problem of assistance provided to elderly persons by social workers and the problem of placing senior citizens in care facilities. The respondents had similar views on the important role of cooperation among assistance specialists for the benefit of elderly persons.

Summing up the survey results above, it should be noted that the research hypothesis was confirmed.

Conclusions and Practical Recommendations

Studies show that attitudes can be shaped and changed. The primary reference groups, such as the school and university environment, are significant for the shaping of attitudes towards elderly people. An important role is also played by significant persons who provide models of behavior to be imitated and identified with. These persons include teachers and peers (Allan & Johnson, 2009). From the pedagogical perspective, the following actions should be undertaken to counteract negative stereotypes about old age:

  1. (1)

    Changing the negative stereotype of elderly people—as infirm and dependent on others—by promoting a positive image of elderly persons as having extensive life experience, wisdom, inner peace and equilibrium (Hehman & Bugental, 2013);

  2. (2)

    Presenting old age as a normal stage of life by highlighting the resources that elderly persons can offer (Margrett, Daugherty, Martin, Macdonald, Davey, Woodard, Miller, Siegler & Poon, 2011);

  3. (3)

    Seeking to establish relations between generations (Antonucci, Jackson & Biggs, 2007);

  4. (4)

    Education preparing all generations for old age, starting from children and youth to adults and elderly persons themselves;

  5. (5)

    Providing youth with accurate knowledge on the characteristics of ageing and old age in order to counteract negative stereotypes (Augustin & Freshman, 2016);

  6. (6)

    Higher education institutions training the staff who will work with and for senior citizens should cooperate with institutions and organizations dedicated to elderly people;

  7. (7)

    The curricula at different levels of education, starting from primary schools to secondary schools and higher education, should contain topics related to old age and ageing;

  8. (8)

    Admission exams or interviews (to learn about the candidate’s motivation to work with people of different ages, including elderly persons) should be introduced in study programs preparing for work in the helping professions.