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The stability and attitudinal correlates of warmth and caring in medical students
Author(s) -
ZELDOW P. B.,
DAUGHERTY S. R.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1987.tb00375.x
Subject(s) - psychology , empathy , femininity , helpfulness , psychological intervention , compassion , social psychology , kindness , interpersonal communication , clinical psychology , psychiatry , philosophy , theology , political science , psychoanalysis , law
Summary. It is often said that medical school admits students who are compassionate, nurturant and person‐oriented, and transforms them into cold, impersonal graduates. These attributes describe two ends of a personality trait continuum referred to as psychological femininity. The Femininity Scale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire was administered to a class of medical students four times over 3 years. Measures of empathy, attitudes towards doctor‐patient relations and attitudes towards professional psychological help were also obtained. Femininity appears to be normally distributed, remarkably stable over a 28‐month interval and predictive of attitudinal measures of empathy, readiness to make psychiatric referrals, recognition of one's own need for psychological help, and a non‐cynical, person‐oriented approach to patient care. Such findings suggest a different state of affairs within medical training than is usually portrayed. Rather than viewing medical school as having a universally adverse effect on student compassion, medical school has virtually no effect on self‐reports of warmth, kindness, helpfulness, etc. Students at different ends of the femininity continuum may require different interventions aimed at teaching communication skills and interpersonal sensitivity.