Understanding medical students' views of chronic fatigue syndrome: a qualitative study.
Chronic fatigue syndrome receives little attention in the medical curriculum. This study explores UK medical students' knowledge of and attitudes towards chronic fatigue syndrome. Semi-structured interviews (average length 22 minutes) were conducted with 21 participants (7 females and 14 males) in years 3 (n = 4), 4 (n = 11) and 5 (n = 6) of their studies. Inductive thematic analysis taking a realist perspective produced three themes: limited knowledge, influences on attitudes and training needs. Students acquired their knowledge and attitudes largely from informal sources and expressed difficulty understanding chronic fatigue syndrome within a traditional biomedical framework. Incorporating teaching about chronic fatigue syndrome into the medical curriculum within the context of a biopsychosocial understanding of illness could encourage more positive attitudes towards chronic fatigue syndrome.
University of Manchester, UK stenhoff.alexandra@gmail.com.
Alexandra Laura
AL
Stenhoff
University of Manchester, UK.
Shireen
S
Sadreddini
University of Manchester, UK.
Sarah
S
Peters
University of Manchester, UK.
Alison
A
Wearden
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult
beliefs; chronic fatigue syndrome; health education; models; qualitative methods