Students’ attitudes towards elderly and willingness to consider geriatric medicine as a career option: a cross sectional study in a Government Medical College in West Bengal, India

Abstract

Background: Medical students occasionally bear an ageist mindset which could be a stumbling block in learning and practicing geriatric care. Objectives & Methods: In that context a cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among the 3rd semester MBBS students in a Government Medical College in Kolkata, India with the objective of identifying the attitude towards the elderly, their willingness to choose geriatrics as a career option and the factors influencing such a decision. The UCLA Geriatric Attitude Scale was used in this study to quantify the above attitude. Results: The study revealed that the overall UCLA score of 3.51 indicated a favourable attitude of the students. The proportion of students who came from extended nuclear families, who were non-resident of the home state, whose fathers were educated to less than a professional degree and who had the experience of living with an aged person were significantly more compared to their respective counterparts favouring geriatrics as a career option. The UCLA score also were significantly higher in those subgroups. Multivariate analysis revealed that presence of an elderly in the family was the most important factor behind scoring highly in UCLA scale (AOR = 10.763; 95% C.I. 0.469 – 246.82). Conclusion: The changing world order of living warrants curricular inputs for the MBBS students for improved care to the elderly.

Keywords

• Career Option
• Geriatrics
• UCLA
• Factors related