Medical ethics : a study of moral developments in medical students at Kuwait University

Bouhaimed, Manal Mansour (1997) Medical ethics : a study of moral developments in medical students at Kuwait University. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

There are few in depth attempts to address the question: why teach ethics to medical students? This thesis argues that, identifying moral growth and development as the primary goal in teaching medical ethics is essential.

Lawrence Kohlberg's moral development theory is the starting point for this research. This is important to understand the work of the researcher at the Medial School in Kuwait.

The instrument used in assessing the moral reasoning of medical students at Kuwait University is the Defining Issues Test (DIT), which was devised at the University of Minnesota.

The study hypothesis is that the rigid, authoritarian medical education in Kuwait University that lacks any emphasis on medical ethics will inhibit the expected growth in moral development of medical students.

With a disappointing response rate of only 27.8%, it was found that normally expected growth did not occur in the first four years of medical education, suggesting that the educational experience somehow inhibited student's moral reasoning ability rather than facilitating it.

The results of this study cannot be understood in isolation from the general understanding of the fabric of the researcher society, which was detailed in Chapter Five.

The implication of this study is basically that medical education that ignores the moral nature of medicine will fail its own purpose, the needs of its students and the welfare of society.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General); B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Philosophy
• Supervisor's Name: Downie, Prof. Robin
• Date of Award: 1997
• Depositing User: Elaine Ballantyne
• Unique ID: glathesis:1997-1976
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 Jun 2010
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 13:49
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/1976