Medical Students’ Attitudes towards and Beliefs about Dyslexia: A Single-Centre Survey Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v7i4p69Keywords:
Dyslexia, Medical students, Medical school, Medical education, Mixed methods, Survey, Cross-sectionalAbstract
Dyslexia impacts upon reading and writing, but not upon intelligence. Little research has explored dyslexia in medicine. An online questionnaire was emailed to all medical students within a single medical school, inviting them to participate. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics. Statistical significance was calculated for any differences between gender, age group, or year-group cohorts. 123 individuals responded. Most reported a good understanding of dyslexia, and feelings that their peers with it should be supported. However, a minority reported feelings of jealously, and dissatisfaction – feeling that students with dyslexia should not be supported, as this gives them an unfair advantage. In some, this seemed to stem from a belief that dyslexia were not real, or that their peers were “faking it”.
“I think it is a poor excuse for students to be favoured advantageously and receive tremendous benefits. It is certainly not a medical problem.”
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