The Attitudes of Canadian Ophthalmology Residents and Pre-Clerkship Medical Students at an Ontario Medical School Towards Homeless Individuals: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This cross-sectional study assessed the attitudes of Canadian ophthalmology residents (PGY1-5) and pre-clerkship medical students (year 1 and 2) at the University of Toronto towards individuals experiencing homelessness.

Methods: Residents and students were invited to complete the Health Professionals’ Attitudes Towards the Homeless Inventory (HPATHI) tool to assess attitudes, interests and confidence in working with the homeless population on a 5-point Likert scale. Comparisons were made between residents and pre-clerkship learners and between junior and senior residents using the Fisher exact test and Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: Responses were received from 114 of 220 ophthalmology residents (52%) and 315 of 534 (59%) pre-clerkship medical students. Ophthalmology residents had significantly more negative overall attitudes (pre-clerk median = 4.4, resident median = 4.1, both still indicating positive attitudes) and interests (pre-clerk median = 4.0, resident median = 3.3, residents with more neutral interests) towards working with the homeless population compared to pre-clerkship medical students. Using both statistical methods, beliefs were significantly more negative in 7 of 9 ‘Attitude’ items, 5 of 5 ‘Interest’ items and 1 of 4 ‘Confidence’ items. Ophthalmology residents were only more positive in 1 of 4 of the ‘Confidence’ items. Attitudes were similar across PGY1-5 training years, except PGY4 and PGY5 residents were more negative than PGY1-3 residents on 1 of 5 ‘Interest’ items.

Conclusions: Ophthalmology residents have an at least neutral perception of individuals experiencing homelessness, while medical students have a more positive opinion. Studies exploring optimal ways to advocate for this population are needed for Canada’s eye-care trainees.

KEYWORDS:

• medical education
• ophthalmology
• attitude of health personnel
• homeless persons
• cross-sectional studies

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article. This submission has not been published elsewhere previously and is not simultaneously being considered for any other publication

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation [N/A].