A COMPETENCE-BASED PREVENTIVE MEDICINE TEACHING MODULE FOR MEDICAL-STUDENTS

Background: There is widespread consensus on the benefits of incorpora ting preventive medicine into health care delivery and on the need for increased medical school teaching in this area. The substantial evide nce linking personal behaviors to leading causes of death supports our concentration on teaching strategies to promote behavioral change as a fundamental skill for physicians. Description: We designed, implemen ted and evaluated a preventive medicine module for 3rd-year medical st udents. Instruction was based on the integration of preventive service s into clinical practice using learner-centered and competency-based i nstructional approaches for students and patients. A counseling model that is generalizable to a variety of risky personal behaviors and tha t integrates physician-patient communication strategies was used. Eval uation: We found no appreciable change in attitudes, but our study fou nd significantly increased levels of student self-confidence in abilit y to both screen for risk factors and effect behavioral change in thei r patients. Students who participated in the preventive medicine modul e demonstrated greatly increased ability to modify patient behavior. C onclusion: Our teaching model, based on adult learning theory and inte grated into the medicine clerkship, was effective in increasing studen ts' self-efficacy and competence in behavioral change counseling. Copy right (C) 1998 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.