Information for UK Medical Students about the BGS National Survey
Research project title: The third national survey of undergraduate teaching in ageing and geriatric medicine and its impact on students’ attitudes towards older people and career intentions.
Primary investigator: Dr Grace Pearson (cmop-curriculum@bristol.ac.uk)
Co-investigators: Prof Adam Gordon, Dr Adrian Blundell, Prof Tahir Masud, Prof Yoav Ben-Shlomo and Dr Emily Henderson, on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.
We are inviting you to take part in a research study. Please take your time to read this information and talk to other people if you’d like. We are happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Why are we doing this study?
We would like you to help us carry out a study on the effects of different training on medical students’ attitudes to older people, and whether this influences career intentions.
The British Geriatrics Society is repeating their national review of undergraduate curricula in ageing and geriatric medicine, which affords an opportunity to assess for links between undergraduate teaching and students’ attitudes towards older people and their career intentions.
Why have I been invited to participate?
You have been invited because you are a medical student studying in the UK. Participation in this study is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to take part this will not affect your relationship with your University in any way.
What will happen if I take part?
- Participation will involve completing a one-off online questionnaire which will take approximately 5-10 minutes.
- First, we will ask you to read and sign an online consent form (see below).
- Once you have signed this consent form, an online questionnaire will begin automatically. This questionnaire will collect demographic information about you, followed by questions assessing your attitudes towards older people and your current career intentions.
- Your data will be anonymous from the point of submission and will be securely stored on the University of Bristol MySQL server.
What does the consent form say?
Before starting the online questionnaire, you will be asked to read and agree to the following consent statements:
- I understand that participation in this study is voluntary.
- I understand that my participation in this study will not affect my relationship with my medical school in any way.
- I understand that my data will be collected anonymously and stored securely, safely and in accordance with The Data Collection Act (1998) and GDPR.
- I understand that my survey responses are anonymous, and therefore I will not be able to withdraw my responses following submission. I understand that that I will not be identifiable in any report on this data.
What are the risks of taking part in this research?
We don’t foresee any major risks with taking part. If you were distressed by any of the questions asked, we encourage you to seek support via local channels. We’re happy to answer any queries you have via email on cmop-curriculum@bristol.ac.uk.
Will my taking part in the study be kept confidential?
All information is collected and stored anonymously. This means that we are unable to identify individual responses and withdrawal following submission is not possible.
What will happen to the results from this study?
We plan to publish the results in international peer-reviewed medical journals and communicated via relevant national and international conferences. Results may also be disseminated using twitter and other online resources. Individual participants will not be identifiable in any research output.
Who is organizing and funding the research?
The research is being organised by researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Nottingham. It forms part of a PhD for Grace Pearson who is supervised by Dr Emily Henderson and Prof. Yoav Ben-Shlomo. It is funded by the
The Dunhill Medical Trust (www.dunhillmedical.org.uk) and supported by the British Geriatrics Society (https://www.bgs.org.uk).
Who has reviewed the study?
This study has been reviewed by the University of Bristol Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. If you have any concerns about this research, please contact research-governance@bristol.ac.uk.