Attitudes towards the elderly among Singapore medical students.
BACKGROUND
It is important that medical students possess the correct attitude towards the elderly and not have an ageist attitude. This is because they will be caring for an increasing proportion of elderly patients. We thus sought to assess the attitudes of our medical students towards the elderly.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study assessing the attitudes towards the elderly of 225 fi rst-year and 135 third-year students using a self-administered questionnaire that incorporated the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (KAOP). Elderly people were defined as those aged 65 years and above for this study.


RESULTS
The majority of fi rst- (98.2%) and third-year (99.2%) medical students had positive attitudes towards elderly people (KAOP score above 102). KAOP scores were not significantly different regardless of seniority (medical student year), gender, race, household income, or having a doctor-parent. Although the mean KAOP score of third-year students was higher than that of fi rst-year students, this was not significantly different (P = 0.062).


CONCLUSIONS
Medical students in Singapore have a positive attitude towards the elderly. It is important that their medical curriculum continues to have an increasing geriatric component in view of the increasing numbers of older persons that they will be caring for due to the ageing population.
Cheong
Seng Kwing
SK
Division of Family Medicine, University Medicine Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore. mdccsk@nus.edu.sg
Wong
Teck Yee
TY
Koh
Gerald C H
GC
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011287:Prejudice; D011594:Psychometrics; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012846:Singapore; D012938:Social Perception; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult