Goals in the teaching of behavioural science to medical students.

Abstract

Medical schools have increasingly come to recognize the relevance of the behavioural sciences in their preclinical teaching programmes. Generally included under this rubric are disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, neurophysiology, and ethology; it is most suitably defined as ‘the integrated study of the biological, psychological and socio-cultural facets of human behavior’ (Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, 1962). Several published accounts of newly introduced courses attest to the widespread growth of this discipline in medical education. A particular spurt was provided through the acceptance by the Royal Commission on Medical Education (1968) of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association’s (1968) recommendation that the advances in the scientific study of normal as well as abnormal behaviour be incorporated into the medical curriculum. In the planning of a new course, several issues require consideration: the nature of the educational objectives ; who should provide the instruction; at what point in the curriculum the course should be taught; and how the course should be integrated into the student’s general medical education. The most crucial issue is the first-mentioned the specification of objectives. Once these are clear, the remaining questions are more readily resolved. It is precisely in the area of objectives that most published accounts on the teaching of behavioural science have devoted the least attention. Goals are either not cited or are pre-