4Ms for age-friendly chiropractic care: student perceptions following a brief educational intervention

Area of Science:

• Geriatric medicine
• Chiropractic education
• Health systems science

Background:

• Health care systems are encouraged to adopt the 4Ms framework to enhance care for older adults.
• Chiropractic education has an opportunity to integrate age-friendly principles into its curriculum.
• Understanding student preparedness is crucial for effective implementation of new care models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate chiropractic student perceptions of the 4Ms of age-friendly health systems.
• To assess the impact of a brief educational intervention on student knowledge and confidence in applying the 4Ms.
• To explore how students envision integrating the 4Ms into chiropractic practice.

Main Methods:

• A pretest-posttest design was employed with four cohorts of chiropractic students (n=298).
• Students received a 50-minute educational intervention on the 4Ms (what matters, mobility, mentation, medication).
• Knowledge was self-rated on a 5-point scale pre- and post-intervention; written feedback was also collected.

Main Results:

• Post-intervention, significant increases were observed in students' self-rated knowledge of 4Ms description (0% to 74.5%), general use (0.3% to 66.3%), ability to teach others (0% to 50.5%), and implementation in practice (0.3% to 55.6%).
• Written feedback indicated students identified practical applications for the 4Ms in patient interaction, office environment, and care protocols.
• A majority of students reported increased confidence and identified specific ways to integrate the 4Ms into age-friendly chiropractic care.

Conclusions:

• A targeted, skills-based educational intervention effectively improved chiropractic students' knowledge and confidence in the 4Ms.
• Students demonstrated an understanding of how to apply the 4Ms framework to create age-friendly chiropractic care.
• Further integration of such training can enhance the implementation of age-friendly health systems within chiropractic practice.