SURVEY OF NORWEGIAN DOCTORS CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

Background During the past few decades the need for humanities in medi cal education has been increasingly emphasised. We sought to find out how doctors meet their cultural needs during their spare time, in comp arison with other university graduates. We also aimed, in this Norwegi an survey, to analyse differences between doctors according to various professional characteristics. Methods 1041 Norwegian doctors (71% of those approached) reported their cultural activities through a postal survey. Their replies were compared with those of 224 university gradu ates who had taken part in a similar survey by Statistics Norway in 19 91. Findings The doctors spent less time than the other graduates on r eading newspapers and watching television, though they were more music ally active and 18% play at least one instrument regularly. No other d ifferences were apparent. The more time doctors spent on medical readi ng, the more time they also devoted to non-medical reading. No systema tic differences in cultural activity according to medical specialty we re found, but women were more culturally active than men. Interpretati on The high work-load and demands of medical practice do not limit doc tors' cultural life. Spare-time cultural activities among doctors seem to be determined more by personal than by professional characteristic s.