Transcultural adaptation and validation of a French version of the University of California, Los Angeles geriatrics attitudes scale (UCLA-GAS-F)

BACKGROUND: In the context of demographic aging, active aging must be encouraged. In addition, the increase in life expectancy requires specific care for the elderly. Therefore, it is important to ensure appropriate training and education to caregivers. Educational institutions put value in positively influencing the attitudes and behaviours towards elderly people in order to ensure the quality of patient care in the future. Questionnaires are often used to assess attitudes. Among them, the University of California, Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitudes Scale (UCLA-GAS) was developed to assess attitudes towards older people and caring for older patients. This scale has been used to evaluate attitude of healthcare professionals and students including undergraduate physiotherapy students. To our knowledge, there is no scale that assesses the same concept in French. Therefore, this study aimed to translate and adapt the UCLA-GAS into French and to test its psychometric properties. METHODS: We conducted this study in two phases. First, we translated and adapted the UCLA-GAS from English into French following the five recommended stages of cross-cultural adaptation. Second, we validated the French version of the scale with undergraduate physiotherapy students. One hundred nineteen students participated from the first to the third academic years. We estimated reliability and validity of the scale. We performed correlation analyses between the French version of the UCLA-GAS (UCLA-GAS-F) with the Aging Stereotypes and Exercise Scale (ASES) and the Attitudes to Aging Questionnaire (AAQ). RESULTS: The scale was translated and adapted into French. Results of the validation phase showed that the UCLA-GAS-F had high test-retest reliability (ICC 0.83, 95%CI 0.74–0.89), but internal consistency below 0.7 (Cronbach’s alpha 0.49 to 0.57). The scale showed no ceiling or floor effect. As expected, the French version showed a weak correlation to the ASES (r = 0.28, p = .003) and to the AAQ (r = 0.32, p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite low internal consistency, the French version of the UCLA-GAS showed appropriate psychometric properties. Further validation should include healthcare professionals and other healthcare students. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40945-021-00114-1.