A longitudinal study of personality changes in medical students

Whittemore, Paul B.; Burstein, Alvin G.; Loucks, Sandra; Schoenfeld, Lawrence S.

doi:10.1097/00001888-198505000-00008

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Preclinical medical students were more positive in their attitudes and interests in working with homeless people, which is consistent with the overall positive attitudes and increased empathy early in medical school noted by other studies [2,3,16]. A previous study represented the sole prior information on emergency physicians’ views on the homeless, demonstrating more negative beliefs in emergency physicians compared to psychiatrists [17].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Attitudes towards homeless people among emergency department teachers and learners: a cross-sectional study of medical students and emergency physicians

2013

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BackgroundMedical students’ attitudes and beliefs about homeless people may be shaped by the attitudes of their teachers and one of the most common sites for learning about homeless patients is the emergency department. The objective of this study was to determine if medical students in the preclinical and clinical years and emergency medicine faculty and residents have different attitudes and beliefs about homeless people.MethodsThe Health Professional Attitudes Toward the Homeless Inventory (HPATHI), was administered to all medical students, and emergency medicine physicians and residents at a large academic health sciences center in Canada. The HPATHI examines attitudes, interest and confidence on a 5-point Likert scale. Differences among groups were examined using the Kruskal Wallis test and Pearson’s chi-square test.ResultsThe HPATHI was completed by 371 individuals, for an overall response rate of 55%. Analysis of dichotomized median and percentage results revealed 5/18 statements were significant by both methods. On the attitudes subscales physicians and residents as a group were more negative for 2/9 statements and on the confidence subscale more positive for 1/4 statements. The interest subscale achieved overall statistical significance with decreased positive responses among physicians and residents compared to medical students in 2/5 statements.ConclusionThis study revealed divergences in attitudes, interests and beliefs among medical students and emergency medicine physicians and residents. We offer strategies for training interventions and systemic support of emergency faculty. Emergency medicine physicians can examine their role in the development of medical students through both formal and informal teaching in the emergency department.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Attitudes towards homeless people among emergency department teachers and learners: a cross-sectional study of medical students and emergency physicians

2013

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“…This is reflected in our findings vis-à-vis the human anatomy labs in that, worryingly, by the end of term three, our participants perceived some of their colleagues to have lost much of their enthusiasm for learning and it seems that vulnerable students may experience an erosion of their academic selfconfidence. This pattern of decreasing intellectual curiosity has been noted over the course of medical education (e.g., Whittemore, Burstein, Loucks, & Schoenfeld, 1985) alongside steeply increasing levels of depression (Zeldow & Daugherty, 1987) and a link is suggested in Pfeiffer's (1983) observation that the self-worth of many medical students in based on their performance. Huebner, Royer and Moore (1981) suggest that in order to avoid stress, medical students often have to compromise and accept a realistic, if not perfect, level of academic and clinical mastery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

Madill

Latchford

2005

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Some fi ndings emerge repeatedly when medical students are administered personality instruments at different points in training. Findings from these studies suggest at least some students become more self-indulgent and hedonistic outside of the classroom and wards, having scant time for meaningful stress reduction and instead seeking rapid, brief escape by playing video games, watching television, overeating, using more alcohol and recreational drugs, or acting out sexually ( Burstein et al ., 1980 ;Whittemore et al ., 1985 ;Zeldow et al ., 1987 ). Other fi ndings include increased cynicism, loss of idealism, ideological conservatism and rigidity, especially during the most stressful fi rst few years, less in the graduation year.…”

Section: Arrested Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These reports usually describe the outcome of journaling exercises by medical students as they go through their clinical encounters, identify common themes from trainee discussion and refl ection groups, and present data from post-graduation questionnaires. Some published studies interpret differences in personality instruments administered to students at different points in medical school training ( Burstein et al ., 1980 ;Whittemore et al ., 1985 ;Zeldow et al ., 1987 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity Transformation in Medical Students

Cohen

Kay²,

Youakim³

et al. 2009

Am J Psychoanal

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This paper reviews the literature on the impact of medical school on personal development and consolidation of core identity. The limited literature relies on reports from medical students' journaling exercises, discussion groups, post-graduation surveys, and repeated personality testing. We review forces acting on medical students, with potential transforming effects. These forces include high external expectations and internal fear of superficial knowledge and skills, entry into the culture of medicine with its insider jargon and hierarchy, high academic workload, and the emotional burdens of confronting cadavers and death as well as bearing witness to patients' suffering. Potential developmental delay, emergence of substance abuse and hedonic acting out, cynicism, and loss of individual core values are possible consequences. Protections against these adverse outcomes include identification of strong mentors and role models, developing post-conventional morality and relativistic thinking, finding healthy coping strategies such as peer support, and remaining intellectually creative and personally reflective.

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A longitudinal study of personality changes in medical students

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Attitudes towards homeless people among emergency department teachers and learners: a cross-sectional study of medical students and emergency physicians

Attitudes towards homeless people among emergency department teachers and learners: a cross-sectional study of medical students and emergency physicians

Identity change and the human dissection experience over the first year of medical training

Identity Transformation in Medical Students

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