Changes in Medical Student and Doctor Attitudes Toward Older Adults After an Intervention: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Research investigating the effects of attitude-focused interventions on doctors’ and medical students’ attitudes toward older adults has produced mixed results. The objective of this systematic review was to determine whether factors pertaining to study design and quality might provide some explanation of this inconclusive picture. Articles were judged of interest if they reported doctors’ or medicals students’ attitude scores before and after a geriatric-focused intervention. Articles that did not report the measure used, mean scores, or inferential statistics were excluded. Twenty-seven databases, including Medline, PsychInfo, and Embase, were searched through April 2011 using a systematic search strategy. After assessment and extraction, 27 studies met the eligibility criteria for this review. These studies demonstrated inconsistent results; 14 appeared successful in effecting positive attitude change toward older adults after an intervention, and 13 appeared unsuccessful. Attitude change results differed in line with the content of the intervention. Of the 27 studies, 11 interventions contained solely knowledge-building content. Three of these studies demonstrated positive changes in doctors’ or medical students’ attitudes toward older adults after the intervention. The remaining 16 interventions incorporated an empathy-building component, such as an aging simulation exercise or contact with a healthy older adult. Of these, 11 successfully demonstrated positive attitude change after the intervention. The inclusion of an empathy-building task in an intervention appears to be associated with positive attitude change in medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes toward older adults.

Geriatrics Curricula for Internal and Family Medicine Residents: Assessing Study Quality and Learning Outcomes

“…7,8 Recently, 26 minimum geriatrics competencies (MGCs) for IM and FM residents were developed. 15 Despite a plethora of recommendations, various educational curricula available on PubMed, and an extensive collection of geriatrics teaching materials from online medical education data sets, such as POGOe 16 and MedEdPORTAL, 17 prior reviews of geriatrics curricula 11,18 did not focus specifically on IM and FM, nor did they examine quality, so an evidence gap remains. We performed a systematic review to answer the following overarching question: What is the most effective method of teaching geriatrics to IM and FM residents?…”

Fink About It: Development and Evaluation of a Communications Curriculum for Healthcare Professionals

“…Fink's curriculum model emphasises the worth of real life exposure and educational opportunities beyond the classroom. Service Learning (SL) consists of collaboration between universities and community-based organisations, in a mutually beneficial, empathy-building partnership that encourage social accountability and altruism (Samra, Griffiths, Cox, Conroy, & Knight, 2013). This has gained wide acceptance in the medical education literature, enabling students to gain more of an appreciation of the social determinants of health and foster a sense of civic responsibility, accountability and caring for others (Leung et al, 2012).…”

Construction of a new questionnaire for assessing physical therapy student attitudes towards their education and profession and testing its validity and reliability

“…There are many studies which tried to assess student attitudes towards the persons with disability [3,4], elderly [5,6], Evidence-based practice [7], inter professional education [8], personal health behaviors [9], academic dis-…”

“…There are many studies which tried to assess student attitudes towards the persons with disability [3,4], elderly [5,6], Evidence-based practice [7], inter professional education [8], personal health behaviors [9], academic disOriginal Article honesty [10] and physical therapy assisstants [11] etc. But the attitude of physical therapy students towards their education and profession was studied only in few studies [12][13][14].…”