Developing and adapting the ‘Facts on ageing quiz’ for Malta

Abstract

One universal measurement scale of ageism constitutes the Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ) which consists of 25 true-false statements for dissemination in the United States context. This short communication included two objectives - namely, to develop and update the FAQ for the Maltese context, and to explore the perceptions and knowledge of Maltese older persons on ageing in general and ageism in particular. Following a fact-checking exercise that resulted in seven amendments in the most recent FAQ version, the modified FAQ was completed by 372 community-dwelling older adults in Malta. The mean percentage correct was 56.4%. The three quiz items that received most accurate responses related to ‘law abiding’, ‘injuries at home’, and ‘fear of crime’. This implied that respondents held an unrealistically high perception of later life as a period of excessive frailty and vulnerability since such positive responses are much higher than actual incidences of medical care attention due to falls at home and being a victim of crime in later life. Conversely, the items on ‘volunteers’, ‘living contexts’, and ‘poverty’ garnered the least correct responses which indicated that Maltese older persons perceive later life as a period of increased frailty and vulnerability, and hence, manifest strong degrees of ‘internal ageism’.