ABSTRACT

Introduction: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners are leading a Global Campaign to Combat Ageism globally. The WHO Ageism Experiences Scale (WHO-Ageism-E15) was developed to more effectively assess individuals’ experiences of ageism. This scale is designed to capture the major dimensions of ageism. However, the scale has not been piloted and tested in Uganda.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey to pilot and test the WHO-Ageism-E15 scale among 598 older adults in rural Eastern Uganda.

Results: Overall, the WHO-Ageism-E15 demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties in the Ugandan context. Older adults in Uganda reported experiencing moderate levels of ageism, with institutional ageism being the most prominent. We found that overall ageism was associated with higher age, being from Namayingo district, being male, having no education, not being currently married, falls, frailty and dementia. The protective factors were being currently married and being educated.

Conclusion: Institutional ageism is higher than interpersonal ageism in rural eastern Uganda. Overall ageism is associated with rurality (Namayingo district), increment in age, falls and being frail. Being married and educated decreased the odds of ageism.

Keywords: Ageism, Assessment, Rural, Uganda, Older Adult