The middle of the road: results from the aging semantic differential with four cohorts of medical students.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the presence of negative stereotypical attitudes among medical students and the extent to which attitudes changed over time.


METHODS
Analysis of pre- and postexperience administration of attitude measures to four cohorts of medical students (two cohorts as quasi-controls and two cohorts as curriculum "treatment" groups).


METHODS
The curriculum of a community-based medical school in the United States.


METHODS
Four sequential cohorts of medical students.


METHODS
Experience in a required comprehensive vertically integrated curriculum.


METHODS
The Aging Semantic Differential (ASD), using an 85-year-old woman as the cue image.


RESULTS
The reliability scores for all administrations were acceptable. The two control cohorts demonstrated no change in attitude scores, whereas the treatment cohorts reflected a slight shift toward more-positive scores. However, all cohorts had scores for all sittings that were in the neutral range; on average students routinely scored 70% of the 32 items neither positively nor negatively.


CONCLUSIONS
These students seemed not to hold negative stereotypes as measured using the ASD. Although two of the 32 items prompted negative stereotyping, and six items elicited positive stereotyping, attitudes were neutral about older adults. Characteristics of the ASD itself or of the response set used in this study may have affected the results.
Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29212, USA. thomas.stewart@palmettohealth.org
Thomas J
TJ
Stewart
G Paul
GP
Eleazer
Rebecca
R
Boland
G Darryl
GD
Wieland
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013240:Stereotyping; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires