PROVIDING HEALTH PROFESSIONS STUDENTS POSITIVE EXPERIENCES WITH HEALTHY ELDERS

By Shannon E. Bell

Despite the increasing needs of an ever-growing aging population, geriatrics is still not a desirable field for a large portion of health professionals across the various disciplines, including physicians, social workers, nurses, dentists, and physician assistants (Abyad, 2000; Bernard, et al., 2003; Gellis, et al., 2003; Hought, 2002; Michielutte and Diseker, 1985; Wilderom, et al., 1990). Research has revealed that many health professions students enter their programs with negative attitudes toward aging (Gellis, et al., 2003; Hought, 2002; Reuben, et al., 1995). Furthermore, these negative attitudes often remain unchanged or even deepen as students progress through their education (Hought, 2002; TenHaken, et al., 1995; Wilson and Hafferty, 1983), diminishing the chances that they will elect to enter the field of geriatric health care upon completing their respective programs of study.

Research suggests that students who express an interest in geriatrics tend to have had more experiences with older persons than students who do not express an interest in the field of geriatrics (Reuben, et al., 1995; Schigelone and Ingersoll-Dayton, 2004; Wilderom, et al., 1990). Furthermore, Schigelone and Ingersoll-Dayton (2004) conclude that “social contact with older adults…may impact students’ interest in geriatrics differently than does the educational and clinical contact they experience in medical school.” Marie Bernard, MD, professor and chair of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine argues that the many negative views students have about aging are “’related to seeing the oldest and sickest segments of the aging population, and encountering what often seem insurmountable challenges in their care’” (Hought, 2002). Thus, through providing students the opportunity to interact with healthy older adults on a social level, many of these negative stereotypes may be dismantled.

In a study conducted at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Bernard, et al. (2003) found that exposing medical students to healthy elders through a structured, low-intensity intervention increased students’ positive attitudes toward aging persons on the Aging Semantic Differential (ASD) scale, as compared with a control group. Thus, the key to undoing negative attitudes of health professionals toward aging populations may be as simple as providing structured non-clinical opportunities for positive interaction with healthy elders, such as oral history projects.

Initiating an oral history service-learning project provides a way for health professions students to interact with the geriatric population in a deeper, more meaningful manner than they traditionally do in the clinical setting. Not only can oral history interviews offer students insight into the daily challenges, activities, and ways of life of elders, but this form of interaction can also change students’ images of older adults from that of “sick patients” to vibrant individuals with passions, joys, sorrows, and fascinating stories to share.

REFERENCES:

Abyad, A. 2000. “Factors Influencing the Decision to Enter a Geriatric Fellowship Program,” Educational Gerontology, 26: 97-105.

Bernard, Marie A., McAuley, William J., Belzer, John A., Neal, Karen S. 2003. “An Evaluation of a Low-Intensity Intervention to Introduce Medical Students to Healthy Older People,” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 51: 419-423.

Gellis, Zvi, Sherman, Susan, and Lawrance, Frances. 2003. “First Year Graduate Social Work Students’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Older Adults,” Educational Gerontology, 29: 1-16.

Hought, Joy. 2002. “Confronting Ageism: The Maturing of Medical Student Curricula,”Geriatric Times, 3(6). Retrieved 8 April, 2006 online at: http://www.geriatrictimes.com/g021205.html. 

Michielutte, R. and Diseker, R. 1985. “Health Care Providers’ Perceptions of the Elderly and Level of Interest in Geriatrics as a Specialty,” Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, 5(2): 65-85.

Reuben, D.B., Fullerton, J.T., Tschann, J.M., and Croughan-Minihane, M. 1995. “Attitudes of Beginning Medical Students toward Older Persons: A Five-Campus Study,” Journal of the American Geriatric Society. 43(12): 1430-6.

Schigelone, Amy S. , Ingersoll-Dayton, Berit. 2004. “Some of My Best Friends are Old: A Qualitative Exploration of Medical Students’ Interest in Geriatrics,” Educational Gerontology, 30: 643-661.

Ten Haken, J.D., Woolluscroft, J.O., Smith, J.B., Wolf, F.M., and Calhoun, J.G. 1995. “A Longitudinal Investigation of Changes in Medical Students’ Attitudes toward the Elderly,” Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 7(1): 18-22.

Wilderom, C., Press, E., Perkins, D., Tebes, J., Nicolas, L., Calkins, E., Cryns, A., and Schimpfhauser, F. 1990. “Correlates of Entering Medical Students’ Attitudes toward Geriatrics,” Educational Gerontology, 16: 429-446.

Wilson, J.F. and Hafferty, F.W. 1983. “Long-term Effects of a Seminar on Aging and Health for First-Year Medical Students,” The Gerontologist, 24(3): 319-324.