2Suleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Medicine, Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Diseases, Isparta, Turkey DOI : 10.31086/tjgeri.2022.268 Introduction: This study"s aim was to investigate the attitudes of first- and sixth-year medical students on ageism and related factors, and to examine their willingness to work with older patients in their professional lives.
Materials and Method: In this cross-sectional study, the target population comprised 637 students, 352 of whom were first-year and 285 were sixth-year medical students, studying at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine in the 2018?2019 academic year. The dependent variable was their attitudes on ageism. The Ageism Attitude Scale was used to assess the students" attitudes. The Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman correlation, and multiple regression analyses were used for data evaluation.
Results: At total of 524 students were included (access rate 82.3%), 53.8% were first-year students. The mean Ageism Attitude Scale score was 84.1 ± 8.9 (33?107). Forty-six percent of the study group stated that they would rather not work with older patients. In Agesim Attitude Scale scoring, the determinants of a positive attitude are: being a female, having good/very good communication with grandparents, desire to live with parents when their parents are very old, and desire to work with elderly patients in their professional life.
Conclusion: The attitudes of medical students toward older patients were generally positive but their reluctance to work with them in their professional life was high, a determinant of having a negative attitude. From the first year of education, the curriculum and social activities should support increased communication with healthy older people to raise awareness about ageism.
Keywords : Ageism; Attitude; Medical Students