Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Teaching Behavioral and Social Sciences to Medical Students

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Teaching Professional Attitudes and Basic Clinical Skills to Medical Students

Abstract

The behavioral and social sciences (BSS) have been a part of the undergraduate medical curricula for more than five decades. Some BSS teaching programs have consisted of preclinical lecture courses, such as sociology and psychology; others have emphasized public-health issues, such as the structure of the health-care system and health promotion. Still other BSS programs have been carried out in small-group discussions before and during clerkship rotations in an attempt to teach patient interviewing and how to identify ethical (e.g., informed consent) or psychosocial (e.g., family violence) problems.

This chapter is an updated version of: Benbassat J, Baumal R, Borkan JM, Ber R. Overcoming barriers to teaching the behavioral and social sciences to medical students. Acad Med. 2003;78:372–380. With permission by Wolters Kluwer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Satterfield JM, Mitteness LS, Tervalon M, Adler SR. Integrating the social and behavioral sciences in an undergraduate medical curriculum: the UCSF essential core. Acad Med. 2004;79:6–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Régo PM, Dick ML. Teaching and learning population and preventive health: challenges for modern medical curricula. Med Educ. 2005;39:202–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Peterson CD, Rdesinski RE, Biagioli FE, Chappelle KG, Elliot DL. Medical student perceptions of a behavioral and social science curriculum. Ment Health Fam Med. 2011;8:215–26.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Almy TP, Colby KK, Zubkoff M, Gephart DS, Moore-West M, Lundquist LL. Health, society and the physician. Problem based learning of the social sciences and humanities. Eight years of experience. Ann Intern Med. 1992;116:569–74.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Freedy JR, Carek PJ, Dickerson LM, Mallin RM. On track for success: an innovative behavioral science curriculum model. Int J Psychiatry Med. 2013;45:299–310.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Litva A, Peters S. Exploring barriers to teaching behavioral and social sciences in medical education. Med Educ. 2008;42:309–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Isaac M, Rief W. Role of behavioral and social sciences in medical education. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2009;22:184–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Post DM, Stone LC, Knutson DJ, Gutierrez TL, Sari F, Hudson WA. Enhancing behavioral science education at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Acad Med. 2008;83:28–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Antonovsky A. The fluctuating fortunes of the behavioral sciences. Isr J Med Sci. 1987;23:1022–6.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Van Egeren L, Fabrega H. Behavioral science and medical education: a bio-behavioral perspective. Soc Sci Med. 1976;10:535–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Astin JA, Soeken K, Sierpina VS, Clarridge BR. Barriers to the integration of psychosocial factors in medicine: results of a national survey of physicians. J Am Board Fam Med. 2006;19:557–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Institute of Medicine. Improving medical education: enhancing the social and behavioral science content of medical school curricula. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rakoff V. The behavioral sciences and undergraduate education in psychiatry. Can J Psychiatry. 1984;29:642–7.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Petersdorf RG, Feinstein AR. An informal appraisal of the current status of ‘medical sociology’. JAMA. 1981;245:943–50.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Engel GL. The need for a new medical model. A challenge to biomedicine. Science. 1977;196:129–36.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Rieker PP, Begun JW. Translating social science concepts into medical education: a model and a curriculum. Soc Sci Med. 1980;14:607–12.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hunt GJ, Sobal J. Teaching medical sociology in medical schools. Teach Sociol. 1990;18:319–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Engel GL. How much longer must medicine’s science be hound by a seventeenth century worldview? Psychother Psychosom. 1992;57:3–16.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Satterfield JM, Adler SR, Chen HC, Hauer KE, Saba GW, Salazar R. Creating an ideal social and behavioral sciences curriculum for medical students. Med Educ. 2010;44:1194–202.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Benbassat J, Baumal R, Borkan JM, Ber R. Overcoming barriers to teaching the behavioral and social sciences to medical students. Acad Med. 2003;78:372–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Priel B, Rabinowitz B. Teaching social sciences in the clinical years through psychosocial conferences. J Med Educ. 1988;63:555–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wright SM, Kern DE, Kolodner K, Howard DM, Frederick L, Brancati FL. Attributes of excellent attending-physician role models. New Engl J Med. 1998;339:1986–93.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Peters S, Livia A. Relevant behavioral and social science for medical undergraduates: a comparison of specialist and non-specialist educators. Med Educ. 2006;40:1020–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smokler Center for Health Policy Research, Mayers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, Jerusalem, Israel

    Jochanan Benbassat

Authors
  1. Jochanan Benbassat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jochanan Benbassat .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Benbassat, J. (2015). Teaching Behavioral and Social Sciences to Medical Students. In: Teaching Professional Attitudes and Basic Clinical Skills to Medical Students. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20089-7_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20089-7_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-20088-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-20089-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation