Ethical attitudes as learning objectives in medical training

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sabine Salloch
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine ; Practical Philosophy
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 538734256

be a learning objective in medical training. Building on theoretical backgrounds empirical methods will be used to investigate the actual practice of transmitting attitudes in undergraduate medical education. The background of the project are recent debates in the didactics of medical ethics. In these debates, two fundamental learning objectives are discussed: the ability to form independent ethical judgments and the acquisition of ethically significant attitudes. While the teaching of ethical judgment is comparatively well researched, attitudes as learning objectives remain highly controversial. This is partly because of the practical feasibility of such objectives, partly because their ethical legitimacy is disputed. The project is based on the assumption that ethically relevant attitudes are essentially transmitted in form of a "hidden curriculum" throughout medical training. For medical ethics, the question then arises as to how this transmission takes place in concrete practice and whether it can and should be guided more strongly. Empirical research and theoretical considerations are intertwined in the project. The empirical part consists of participant observation of clinical classes and of focus groups with students. We will investigate how teachers transmit attitudes - also subliminally - and how students react to them. On this basis, hypotheses will be developed on the following questions: How can the concept of attitude be defined, taking into account, for example, approaches of virtue ethics? Which theoretical model for the teaching of attitudes has which advantages and drawbacks? How can we prevent the transmission of attitudes from becoming indoctrinating? Building on the theoretical analysis and the results of the empirical research the project will further enrich ongoing debates in medical ethics and in didactics and provide new stimuli for medical education.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants