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Do the clinical years change medical students' attitudes to old people?
Author(s) -
SAINSBURY R.,
WILKINSON T. J.,
SMITH C. W.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1994.tb02717.x
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , likert scale , semantic differential , scale (ratio) , cohort , attitude change , medicine , family medicine , medical school , psychology , gerontology , medical education , social psychology , developmental psychology , physics , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Summary: Summary. Students at the Christchurch School of Medicine have previously been shown to demonstrate a significant improvement in attitudes and knowledge about old people after a 5‐week attachment in their first clinical year (fourth year of their medical course). The original cohort were retested between 1 and 3 years after graduation. A modified version of the Rosencranz—McNevin Semantic Differential Scale was used to measure general attitudes to old age and a Likert scale to measure attitudes to medical care and knowledge. Attitudes measured by the Rosencranz—McNevin Scale showed no change between the completion of the fourth‐year attachment and graduation. The Likert scale showed no change in knowledge but the attitude score showed a worsening ( P < 0.001). Knowledge and attitudes of graduates who had completed a house office attachment in health care of the elderly were better than those who had not (knowledge P < 0.01, attitude P < 0.06).