ABSTRACT Background Ageism among dental students can impede equitable geriatric care. Developing educational interventions to reduce profession‐specific and general ageist attitudes is an urgent priority in aging societies. Objective To determine whether a community‐based extramural placement in long‐term care reduces profession‐specific ageism and to identify which students benefit. Methods Single‐arm pre–post study at two universities. Surveys were administered at the start of the 10th and the end of the 11th semester (September 2024–August 2025). Ageism was measured with ASDS‐J and FSA‐J; willingness to treat older adults was a 6‐level item. Primary analyses used Wilcoxon signed‐rank tests with Hodges–Lehmann (HL) median paired differences and effect size r. An ANCOVA modelled post–ASDS‐J, adjusted with baseline ASDS‐J and FSA‐J and demographics. A binary logistic regression modelled improvement in ASDS‐J. Results ASDS‐J decreased after the placement (HL: 1.5, 95% CI −3.0 to 0.0), while FSA‐J did not change. Within FSA‐J, only Antilocution showed a small nominal shift; Discrimination, Avoidance and willingness were unchanged. In ANCOVA, post–ASDS‐J levels aligned with baseline dispositions (higher pre‐ASDS‐J and pre‐FSA‐J), with other covariates not contributory. Binary logistic regression showed that higher baseline ASDS‐J predicted improvement. Conclusions A brief community‐based placement in a long‐term care facility was associated with reduced profession‐specific ageism among dental students, whereas general ageism remained unchanged. Improvement was more likely among students starting higher on ASDS‐J, indicating preferential benefits for those with stronger profession‐specific ageism at entry.
Izumi et al. (Sat,) studied this question.