Motivating medical students for social accountability in medical schools

As health professionals, physicians are accountable for their professional practice.  The aim of this study was to explain the medical students' motivation to attain social accountability in medical schools, based on the experience of both students and faculties.

We conducted a qualitative conventional content analysis research in Shiraz University of medical sciences in Iran since 2018 through purposive, snowball sampling. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 35 participants i.e., medical students and teachers. Coding was carried out by conventional content analysis.

We drew four themes and ten related subthemes and the central variable explains the motivation of medical students toward social accountability and makes a link among the subthemes, was purposeful beliefs and behavior. The key dimensions during motivational process which generated the social accountability development in medical students consisted of social culture of medicine, medical school reality, teaching and learning strategy and creating purposeful beliefs and behavior. Also, eight subthemes of individual motivation, content motivation process motivation, attending to the outcomes of the curriculum, traditional routine centered curriculum, observational learning, role modeling, hidden curriculum, respect for social values and norms and benefitting the society emerged which explain the process of motivate for social accountability by creating purposeful beliefs and behavior in medical students.

The core variable of motivation toward social accountability must be reflected in future developmental programs, curriculum planning and training general physicians. In other words, the best efforts for purposeful beliefs and behavior in medical students, must be made to improve motivation toward social accountability.