Influences on medical students' health beliefs

Physicians' personal health beliefs may have a substantial influence on their attitudes and practice of preventive health care. To assess influences on these health beliefs and gain further insight into these beliefs, a survey containing open ended questions and the Health Locus of Control (HLC) scale was administered to an entire class of medical students at the end of their preclinical training and again after an average of 18 months of clinical training. The most frequent major influence mentioned by preclinical students was medical education/teaching (by 27 per cent) but after clinical training, patients/clinical experiences was cited more often. Although medical students' responses on the HLC were more internal than the theoretical midpoint, they were less internal than persons adhering to exercise programs. Moreover, HLC scores did not change after initial clinical training. These findings suggest that HLC may be established before the clinical years. Nevertheless, medical school has the potential for substantially influencing health beliefs.