Do professional attitudes change during medical education?

Objective: The aim was to measure students' professional attitudes, in particular the level of humaneness. The quality of humaneness was defined in terms of both patient-centredness and psychosocial orientation towards disease. Method: Medical students completed a questionnaire designed to survey professional attitudes. Measuring instruments consisted of the Doctor-Patient Scale and the Social Context Scale, both containing statements of the Likert-type. Reliability and validity of the scales had to be established. Sample: In total, 476 students from four different classes, both preclinical and clinical, were studied in a cross-sectional design. Results: The expectation that the attitudes of senior students would be less patient-centred and less psychosocially oriented due to a process of dehumanisation, was not supported by the results. Differences in the attitudes of male and female students were also examined. Generally, female students held more patientcentred and psychosocially oriented attitudes than their male counterparts. The possible influence of measurement and educational factors upon students' attitudes is also discussed. Conclusion: No decrease in humaneness during medical education was detected. Gender differences in professional attitudes were visible. More validation of the scales has to be done.