title: Medical students' attitudes toward the anatomy dissection room in relation to personality.
abstract: Assessment of the personalities of medical students could enable medical educators to formulate strategies for the best development of academic and clinical competencies. In this article, we focus on the experience of students in the anatomy dissecting room. While there have been many attempts to evaluate the emotional responses of medical students to human cadaveric dissection, there has been no investigation into how different personality traits affect the responses. The main hypothesis tested was that there is a relationship between personality traits and attitudes toward the dissection room. For the present study, a group of French medical students (n = 403; mean age 21.3 ± 1.6; 65.3% female) completed a "Big Five" personality inventory and a questionnaire to assess their attitudes in regard to human dissection. The findings are consistent with our hypothesis, in that we found a relationship between reporting anxiety and four of the "Big Five" dimensions (all except openness). The rated level of anxiety was positively correlated with negative affectivity, more strongly at the beginning than at the end of the course. There were significant gender differences in attitudes toward dissection. The findings are discussed in relation to the possibility of preparing students for the dissecting room experience and also in relation to the students' understanding of mortality issues.
authors: Development, Imaging, and Anatomy Research Unit (URDIA, E.A. 4465), University of Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, School of Medicine, Paris, France. odile.plaisant@parisdescartes.fr
authors: Odile
authors: O
authors: Plaisant
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Courtois
authors: Paule Joanne
authors: PJ
authors: Toussaint
authors: Gerald A
authors: GA
authors: Mendelsohn
authors: Oliver P
authors: OP
authors: John
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Delmas
authors: Bernard J
authors: BJ
authors: Moxham
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D000715:Anatomy / Q000193:education*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002102:Cadaver; D003479:Curriculum; D004210:Dissection / Q000523:psychology*; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012737:Sex Factors; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult