Health beliefs and preferences for medical treatment: a comparison between medical and social science students.
OBJECTIVE
This study looked at the relationship between beliefs in 'scientific medicine', personal health beliefs, attitudes to complementary medical practitioners and medical treatment preferences in two different groups: medical and non-medical (mainly social science) students. It extended the previous work of looking at patient groups.


METHODS
Once the psychometric properties of the four short questionnaires (53 items in all) were established as satisfactory in terms of their factor structure, the two groups were compared.


RESULTS
By means of analysis of variance it was established that there were fewer differences between medical and non-medical students than might be expected by chance. A 'higher order' factor analysis revealed three clear factors underlying attitudes to complementary medicine: pro complementary medicine; pro orthodox medicine; and satisfaction with general practitioner. All the students appeared to have a sceptical but positive attitude to complementary medicine.
Furnham
A
A
Department of Psychology, University College London, UK.
Yardley
L
L
Fahmy
S
S
Jamie
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015510:Clinical Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods*; D003625:Data Collection; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012942:Social Sciences / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires