Impact of Interprofessional Simulation on Health Students' Self‐Reported Attitudes Towards Older Adults: A Pre‐Post Questionnaire‐Based Study

BACKGROUND: Aging simulation may promote the knowledge and skills of healthcare providers and students. We hypothesized that interprofessional simulation related to the care of older adults could influence healthcare students' self-reported attitudes towards older patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Interprofessional role-play simulations dedicated to the care of older patients were integrated into the curriculum of students in Dental Surgery (3rd year), Nursing Sciences (1st year) and Pharmacy (5th year). Two simulations in which one student played the role of the older adult and the other that of the healthcare professional(s) were proposed to students. A group debriefing included non-technical aspects meeting the educational objectives such as communication, trust in care and empathy as well as technical aspects. Students' self-reported attitudes towards older people were measured before and after the simulation experience, by using the French versions of the University of California, Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitudes Scale (UCLA-GAS) and the Fraboni Ageism Scale-revised (FSA-R). RESULTS: Three hundred forty-eight students took part in the study (n = 191 students in Dental Surgery courses, 89 in Pharmacy, and 68 in Nursing Sciences). UCLA-GAS-scores did not significantly change alongside the simulation, except for students enrolled in Dental Surgery curriculum (with respectively 49.9 ± 6.0 and 49.2 ± 6.2 for UCLA-GAS-pre and UCLA-GAS-post, p < 0.05, df = 289, t-test). Mean ± SD FSA-R-pre and FSA-R-post scores were respectively 53.2 ± 9.0 and 51.7 ± 10.9 (p < 0.05, df = 289, t-test). FSA-R- scores significantly decreased for Pharmacy students but not for the two other training sectors. CONCLUSION: The level of self-reported ageism expressed by healthcare students decreased following the simulation, suggesting a potential positive effect of interprofessional role-play sessions on attitudes towards older adults.