Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review
Background: Studies have sought to identify the possible determinants of medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients by examining relationships with a variety of demographic, educational/training, and job factors. This review collates and synthesises these findings. Methods:...
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41498/ |
| _version_ | 1848796287596494848 |
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| author | Samra, Rajvinder Cox, Tom Gordon, Adam L. Conroy, Simon Lucassen, Mathijs Griffiths, Amanda |
| author_facet | Samra, Rajvinder Cox, Tom Gordon, Adam L. Conroy, Simon Lucassen, Mathijs Griffiths, Amanda |
| author_sort | Samra, Rajvinder |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background: Studies have sought to identify the possible determinants of medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients by examining relationships with a variety of demographic, educational/training, and job factors. This review collates and synthesises these findings.
Methods: An electronic search of ten databases was performed (ABI/Inform, ASSIA, British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Informa Health, Medline, PsycINFO, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science) through to 7 February 2017.
Results: The main search identified 2332 articles; 37 studies met the eligibility criteria set. All included studies analysed self-reported attitudes based on correlational analyses or difference testing, therefore causation cannot be determined. However, self-reported positive attitudes towards older patients were related to: (i) intrinsic motivation for studying medicine; (ii) increased preference for working with older patients; and (iii) good previous relationships with older people. Additionally, more positive attitudes were also reported in those with higher knowledge scores but these may relate to the use of a knowledge measure which is an indirect measure of attitudes (i.e. Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quizzes). Four out of the five high quality studies included in this review reported more positive attitudes in females compared to males.
Conclusion: This paper identifies factors associated with medical students’ and doctors’ positive attitudes towards older patients. Future research could bring greater clarity to the relationship between knowledge and attitudes by using a knowledge measure which is distinct from attitudes and also measures knowledge that is relevant to clinical care. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:45:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-41498 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:45:35Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-414982020-05-04T19:15:54Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41498/ Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review Samra, Rajvinder Cox, Tom Gordon, Adam L. Conroy, Simon Lucassen, Mathijs Griffiths, Amanda Background: Studies have sought to identify the possible determinants of medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients by examining relationships with a variety of demographic, educational/training, and job factors. This review collates and synthesises these findings. Methods: An electronic search of ten databases was performed (ABI/Inform, ASSIA, British Nursing Index, CINAHL, Informa Health, Medline, PsycINFO, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science) through to 7 February 2017. Results: The main search identified 2332 articles; 37 studies met the eligibility criteria set. All included studies analysed self-reported attitudes based on correlational analyses or difference testing, therefore causation cannot be determined. However, self-reported positive attitudes towards older patients were related to: (i) intrinsic motivation for studying medicine; (ii) increased preference for working with older patients; and (iii) good previous relationships with older people. Additionally, more positive attitudes were also reported in those with higher knowledge scores but these may relate to the use of a knowledge measure which is an indirect measure of attitudes (i.e. Palmore’s Facts on Aging Quizzes). Four out of the five high quality studies included in this review reported more positive attitudes in females compared to males. Conclusion: This paper identifies factors associated with medical students’ and doctors’ positive attitudes towards older patients. Future research could bring greater clarity to the relationship between knowledge and attitudes by using a knowledge measure which is distinct from attitudes and also measures knowledge that is relevant to clinical care. Oxford University Press 2017-11-01 Article PeerReviewed Samra, Rajvinder, Cox, Tom, Gordon, Adam L., Conroy, Simon, Lucassen, Mathijs and Griffiths, Amanda (2017) Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review. Age and Ageing, 46 (6). pp. 911-919. ISSN 1468-2834 Physician; Medical student; Attitude; Older adult; Systematic review https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ageing/afx058 doi:10.1093/ageing/afx058 doi:10.1093/ageing/afx058 |
| spellingShingle | Physician; Medical student; Attitude; Older adult; Systematic review Samra, Rajvinder Cox, Tom Gordon, Adam L. Conroy, Simon Lucassen, Mathijs Griffiths, Amanda Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title | Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title_full | Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title_fullStr | Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title_short | Factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| title_sort | factors related to medical students’ and doctors’ attitudes towards older patients: a systematic review |
| topic | Physician; Medical student; Attitude; Older adult; Systematic review |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41498/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41498/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41498/ |