Effect of Year in School on Medical Students' Perceptions Evaluated with the Cognitive Behavior Survey, Attitudes Toward Social Issues in Medicine Survey, and Learning Environment Questionnaire

Abstract

Background: We administered selected scales from the Cognitive Behavior Survey, Attitudes Toward Social Issues in Medicine survey, and Learning Environment Questionnaire. We gathered data from other medical schools to put our results into context. Purpose: To present results on these scales from our own and other medical schools to identify the effects of "year in school" on the results. Methods: We searched for articles that had cited the articles that originally presented the scales we used. We organized the results by type of curriculum and presented data from multiple points in each course. Results: With a few exceptions, the data suggest that students' perceptions of their cognitive behaviors, their attitudes to social issues in medicine, and their impressions of the medical school learning environment deteriorate as they proceed through the course. In the case of PBL and hybrid curricula, this may represent a reversal of gains conferred by these curricula during the early phases of the course. Conclusions: These data provide a starting point for further study of some of the influences on students' perceptions of medical curricula as they proceed through the course.