How open minded medical students really are? A pilot study

Abstract

Vasiliki Spatoula, Efharis Panagopoulou

Objective: Despite the identified biases in the provision of health, no studies have so far compared stereotypes of medical students with students from other disciplines. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare attitudes of medical and social science students toward population groups of different ethnic background, age, and sexual orientation. Given the social desirability biases associated with explicit attitude assessment through self-report, and the feasibility issues of implicit attitude testing, the study also developed and piloted the Attitude and Opinion Scale, a self-report instrument designed to assess attitudes and reduce social desirability. Method: Ninety third year students from the Medical School and the Social Sciences Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, completed the Attitude and Opinion Scale. Results: Results showed statistical significant differences in attitudes toward groups of different sexual orientation (t = 2.687, p = 0.009) and age (t = −2.554, p = 0.012). Conclusions: This pilot study indicated that the medical students have more negative attitudes toward some population groups compared to students of social sciences. Increasing attention has to be paid in undergraduate medical courses to the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors required for the effective and culturally safe practice of medicine in culturally and gender diverse settings.