Korean J Med Educ.  2006 Apr;18(1):77-86.

Patient-Centeredness Associated with Personality Traits of Medical Students

• Moon SW
• Nam BW
• Seo JS
• Ryu EJ
• Kweon HJ
• Sohn IK
• Hahm W

Abstract

PURPOSE: The patient-centered attitude is an effort to understand patients themselves as well as their disease. The doctor-oriented approach has been shifting to one where patients and participate in the deciding of medical service. We performed this study to investigate the patient-centeredness and influencing variables associated with personality traits.
METHODS
We recruited 94 medical students before their psychiatric clinical clerkship, and all subjects were assessed by a structured questionnaire including socio-demographic data, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI), Meyers-Briggs type indicator(MBTI), the patient-practitioner Orientation Scale(PPOS), and the Authoritarian Personality scale(AP), The AP and PPOS questionnaires were repeated after the psychiatric clinical clerkship.
RESULTS
After the psychiatric clinical clerkship, the AP scores were significantly lower than before, and the PPOS significantly higher than before. The change in the AP scores were related to MBTI, correlated with MMPI subscales, however, inversely correlated with the changes in PPOS after the clinical clerkship.
CONCLUSION
The authoritarian personality trait was related to, not only the personality trait including MBTI and MMPI subscales, but also to patient-centeredness in medical students.

Keyword

Doctor-patient relationship; Patient-centeredness; Authoritarian personality; MBTI; MMPI

MeSH Terms

Clinical Clerkship
Humans
Minnesota
MMPI
Students, Medical*
Surveys and Questionnaires