Teaching psychosomatic medicine: predictors of students' attitudes toward a compulsory course

One hundred five medical students (59 males, 46 females, mean age 25.7 +/- 2.5 years) were asked to evaluate a one-semester course in psychosomatic medicine. Overall satisfaction with the course was good. Neither demographic data nor individual characteristics such as previous personal experience in psychosocial medicine, professional goals, or preferred theoretical model of medicine were significantly correlated with single evaluation criteria or overall satisfaction with the course. The latter was most significantly related to the teachers' performance (r = 0.80).