Introduction: Palmore's Facts on Aging Quiz (FAQ) has been widely used to assess the general knowledge of geriatrics among health care professionals and others.

Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to compare scores on the FAQ of general dentistry residents matriculating in an international Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program in 1992 and 1993 to those of classes matriculating 10 years later, in 2002 and 2003.

Methods: Palmore's FAQ has been administered to entering AEGD classes at Eastman Dental Center, prior to receiving geriatrics education in the program, since 1984. This pilot study compared data for classes matriculating in 1992 and 1993 (n=22) to that of those entering in 2002 and 2003 (n=27). Data from Time 1 (1992 & 1993) was compared to that of Time 2 (2002 & 2003) according to time, location of dental school (U.S. or non-U.S.), and gender.

Results: The reliability of the original FAQ items was investigated using Cronbach's alpha and the scale was not found to be internally consistent (alpha = .35). Seven of the unreliable items were omitted, which created an 18-item scale that was internally consistent (alpha = .72). This more reliable scale was used in the analysis. The overall mean score of dental residents on the FAQ was 11.31 (out of 18). Using one-way ANOVA, there was no difference in the scores of residents at Time 1 compared to those of Time 2 (p=.23). Likewise, there was no difference between scores of graduates of U.S. and non-U.S. dental schools (p=.19). Males scored one point higher on the FAQ than females, F (1,47)=5.81,p<.02.

Conclusions: Despite increases in the availability of education in geriatrics, scores of dental residents on the FAQ have neither improved nor declined in the past 10 years.

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