Donor-Based Dissection, Ethical Reflection, and Professionalism in First-Year Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional...

Donor-based dissection is a central component of anatomy education and is often considered a context for fostering ethical reflection, bioethics learning, and professionalism. This study examined first-year medical students' perceptions of these dimensions and explored factors associated with their evaluation of the educational value of dissection. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using a structured questionnaire administered in two phases during a Human Anatomy course. Complete data for the primary outcome variables were obtained from 86 students. Associations were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient with false discovery rate correction, and correlations with |ρ| ≥ 0.30 were considered practically relevant. A limited number of statistically significant associations were identified. Enthusiasm toward dissection was positively associated with perceived usefulness for bioethics learning (ρ = 0.34) and professionalism (ρ = 0.35). Perceived usefulness for professionalism was also associated with intention to pursue a surgical career (ρ = 0.32) and with perceived relevance for future career (ρ = 0.33, reverse-coded). A moderate inverse association was observed between perceived usefulness for ethical reflection and frequency of ethical reflection (ρ = -0.31). These findings indicate that students' perceptions of the educational and professional value of dissection are shaped by specific experiential factors-particularly emotional engagement and perceived career relevance-and are best understood as domain-specific patterns rather than reflecting a uniform process. These findings suggest that anatomy teaching should incorporate strategies that actively promote student engagement and explicitly link dissection with professional development.