[Attitude of medical students toward the handicapped]

In their daily professional work physicians are increasingly faced with persons who live with chronic diseases or handicaps. Beyond profound medical knowledge, an understanding of psychosocial factors and a positive attitude are essential for providing optimal treatment. In order to teach the medical students of Leipzig University how to balance these factors they are required to visit self-help groups and institutions for disabled persons as part of the course "Social Medicine". 250 medical students of the 9th semester filled out a questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes toward handicapped persons as well as their motivation for choosing the medical profession. The questionnaire was given twice, once before their visitations and once following. 28 students of special supportive education served as a control group. While the attitudes of the medical students were very similar to those of the standard population, the attitudes of the supportive education students were significantly more positive. A comparison of the results of the questionnaires before and after the visitations showed that the attitudes of the medical students remained essentially the same without any obvious changes due to their experiences during the visitations. This evidence suggests that there needs to be more emphasis in Social Medicine and medical education in general placed on the problems specific to handicapped people.