The importance of the medical humanities among adolescents: Developing a Medical Humanities Questionnaire

The purpose in this study was to develop a questionnaire measuring the subjective importance among adolescents of medical humanities issues. Based on a series of literature reviews and expert panel discussions, a questionnaire was created and completed by 460 randomly selected individuals. An exploratory factor analysis and a principal component analysis were conducted. The 19 items in the questionnaire were classified into 5 factors: professionalism, caring and empathy, patient orientation, disclosure of harm, and communication. These 5 factors accounted for 59.19% of the variance. The developed questionnaire was subsequently completed by 258 adolescents enrolled in medical science courses and 268 adolescents enrolled in other courses to see whether or not there was any significant difference between the two groups in their awareness of medical humanities. Results revealed that adolescents enrolled in medical science courses placed greater importance on these issues than did those enrolled in other courses.