title: The BELIEF Instrument: a preclinical teaching tool to elicit patients' health beliefs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The BELIEF Instrument is a cultural interviewing tool for preclinical medical students that does not require diagnostic or therapeutic skills.
  
  
  METHODS
  An expert panel developed and taught the instrument to 200 first-year medical students in (1) a didactic session, (2) standardized patient interviews, and (3) clinical correlation sessions with community physicians and third-year medical students. Standardized patients evaluated students on the BELIEF questions in a graded interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 93.5% (range 86% to 97%) of 197 students elicited information on each of the BELIEF items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BELIEF instrument works as a cultural interviewing tool. It is unknown if students' interviewing behavior generalizes to real patients in clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, England. a.dobbie@ic.ac.uk
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Dobbie
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Medrano
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tysinger
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Olney
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D010361:Patients