Abstract:

Objective: This research was carried out to determine the attitudes of medical school students towards elderly discrimination and their relationship with sociodemographic variables. Methods: Universe of this descriptive and cross-sectional study is the students of Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University Faculty of Medicine in the 2019-2020 academic year. 224 medical students attended the study. The 22-question survey developed by the researcher and the Elderly Discrimination Attitude Scale (YATÖ) were applied to volunteer physicians face to face or via the internet. Results: The total score average of the students was found to be 68.28 ± 7.54. A significant difference was found between the total score and sub-dimension scores of YATÖ, longest time live place, the education level of the mother, the history of living with the elderly person, the desire to live with the parents in the future, the desire to provide health services to the elderly, the status of receiving education about the elderly patients and their diseases (p <0.05). In our study, the number of students who want to serve the elderly is 193 (86.2%). However, the total score of YATÖ of those who prefer to provide services to elderly individuals is significantly lower than those who do not (p=0.022). Conclusion:As a result of the research, it was seen that medical faculty students generally have a positive attitude in terms of ageism. Although the average of the students’ age discrimination attitude scale is high, the answers given to the questionnaire made by the researcher show that there may be negativities in the provision of health services. There is a need for studies to increase the awareness of physician candidates on elderly discrimination.

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