title: [Prevalence of negative stereotypes towards old age among personnel of a general hospital].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social representations are value systems. Social stereotypes are a social consensus of traits associated with a specific group. Stereotypes about older subjects, generally have negative connotations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence of negative stereotypes towards older subjects among health care personnel.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire about stereotypes towards old age, with Likert type questions that included health, social motivations and personality-character domains, was applied to 52 doctors, 12 residents, 80 general nurses, 36 auxiliary nurses, four social workers and 10 medical assistants, working at a general hospital.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the professionals who answered the questionnaire was 38 years (95% confidence intervals (CI) 37-39 years) and 78% were women. The prevalence of a Global negative stereotype was 65.0%(95% CI: 59.5-70.5). The figure for the health domain was 64.5% (IC95%; 59.0-70.0), for the social motivation domain was 60%(5%CI: 54.3-65.7) and for the character personality domain was 64% (95%CI: 58.4-69.6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a high prevalence of a negative stereotype towards old age among health care personnel.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica y en Servicios de Salud Querétaro, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Querétaro, México. yvani98@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mireya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franco S
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Villarreal R
authors.forename: Emma R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Vargas D
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Martínez G
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galicia R
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010551:Personality; D011287:Prejudice; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires