IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS VALUES AND MEDICAL SPECIALTY ON PROFESSIONAL INSERVICE DECISIONS

Research indicates that professional group and religion affect decisio n making. Five hundred board-certified physicians from each of 5 speci alty areas (General Surgery, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Pathology, and Family Practice) were mailed vignettes reflecting 1 of 4 value sy stems (Evangelical Christian, Liberal Protestant, Humanist, or Hindu) in a randomized survey. One hundred twenty-five vignettes of every val ue system were mailed to each specialty yielding a total of 500 per sp ecialty. Respondents were asked to rate 1 vignette which provided a br ief description of a professional inservice. Questions for rating cove red approval and interest in the training as well as requests for resp ondent descriptive information. About 40% of the total group responded . Humanist and Hindu vignettes were clearly more approved than Liberal Protestant and Evangelical Christian (EC) vignettes. Medical specialt y was not an independent factor but was significant in interaction wit h value type. Personal interest/value similarity correlated highly wit h approval ratings. Dissimilarity with parental religious values was a frequent moderating variable and varied significantly among medical s pecialty groups. Religious values influence medical nonclinical decisi ons. Implications concerning separation of church and state issues, re search strategy, and medical ethical and training activities were disc ussed to encourage more openness in the area of medical decisions and theistic/non-theistic religious values.