Behavioral science offerings of selected U.S. medical schools

As part of the planning for a medical school to be situated in Queens County, N.Y., a questionnaire was sent to 50 randomly drawn U.S. medical schools to gather information on the behavioral science segment in their curriculums.Behavioral science courses comprised part of the curriculums of all 23 responding schools and were most often based in the departments of psychiatry and departments of community medicine. Physicians and behavioral scientists appeared to be equally involved in teaching them. Lecture-discussion, small group discussion, and case study were the teaching methods most often used singly. The most popular combination method was lecture-discussion with case study, followed by small group discussion with lecture-discussion. Behavioral scientists seemed to favor lecture-discussions and physicians, small group discussions, but the difference was not statistically significant.Most of the behavioral science courses were offered in the first and second years of medical school. The number of both the elective and required behavioral science courses peaked in the first year and then dropped off sharply in each successive year. These courses were also longest in the first year and became shorter in each successive year.Perceptions of the effectiveness of the behavioral science courses seemed to depend upon the respondent's primary professional orientation. Respondents who were behavioral scientists seemed to view the impact of the courses as negligible, whereas physicians had a more favorable view of their impact.