Personal Development and Growth of Medical Students in Mexico: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

In response to the health care demands of an ever-changing society, medical schools have included personal development and growth in their curriculum as an essential competency in the training process of their students. The objective of this research was to investigate the development and personal growth using eleven scales of 103 medical students, during their school years starting in their second year till their internship. Descriptive, comparative and correlation analyses were performed. During the study, high scores were observed, although not necessarily the highest of each of the next scales: positive outlook of life, self-esteem, emotional self-knowledge, commitment, creativity, self-confidence, assertiveness and leadership, teamwork and social skills; as well as regular scores in resilience, empathy, self-criticism and heterocriticism. In addition, there were differences between the positive life perspective scores obtained by the students in fifth (=17.39, SD ±2.75) and seventh semester (=17.06, SD ±2.49), with an adjusted p of .044; as well as between the empathy scores obtained by males in the second year (.8.97, SD 1.94) and internship (=9.95, SD ±1.45), with adjusted p of .048. Women scored lower than men, with p<.05, in resilience (in fifth semester), self-confidence (fifth semester and internship), self-criticism and heterocriticism (internship), assertiveness and leadership (internship). Among most scales, statistically significant associations were found, from moderate to high; except in the case of emotional self-knowledge, where some correlations were low. To promote the development and personal growth of students, it is necessary to implement strategies that can be worked simultaneously during the learning process of the different subjects of the curriculum as part of the integral training of the students, which is expected to impact not only their academic performance but also their future professional and personal life.