Older Adult Mentoring Programs for Medical Students: A Scoping Review

Opportunities for future clinicians to learn about aging through connections with older adults may help them appreciate changing health care needs and priorities while increasing empathy. This scoping review describes the current landscape and impact of senior mentor programs.

In December 2023, a search was performed for relevant English-language articles using OVID MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycInfo using keywords such as mentor , medical student , and geriatrics . The search was not limited to a particular range of years to allow for a complete history of articles related to senior mentoring. Two reviewers independently screened articles with the set inclusion criteria and resolved any conflicts during the full-text review. They extracted, recorded, summarized, and analyzed the data using the JBI Manual for Evidence method.

This scoping review included 26 studies from 19 distinct medical school programs. Nine programs reported that students were able to build positive relationships with older adults, 5 programs reported that students were able to gain more insight into the aging experience, and 8 programs reported that medical students thought their ability to medically interview older adults and provide patient care improved. All 3 programs that evaluated student attitudes toward aging found an increase in positivity, and the 2 that used validated tools to evaluate knowledge about geriatrics found that medical students had an improvement in their knowledge about older adults. A review of medical school public websites indicates that 9 programs (47.4%) are reported to be ongoing.

This scoping review reveals that older adult mentorship programs are received positively by both medical school students and older adult mentors. In the future, a strategy recruiting older adult medical school alumni as mentors may offer an innovative model for engaging medical students and alumni across generations to learn about aging in medicine.