Integrating behavioral and social sciences components into a competency-based MD program curriculum: A qualitative study on opinions of faculty members

Background: Behavioral, social, psychological and biological factors influence health and disease; and, to achieve professional competency, physicians should be knowledgeable about their society and its inhabitants’ behavior. This knowledge will help physicians to become competent in communication, professional behavior, self-awareness, ethical reasoning, and understanding cultural and social differences. In this regard, this research is an attempt to explore perspectives of medical faculty members on necessity of integrating Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) components into the medical curriculum. Methods: In this qualitative study, data were collected by semi-structured interview and observation of participants who were recruited from educational departments of faculty of medicine of Iran University of Medical Sciences. 12 faculty members were interviewed individually and were ask about their experiences and perspectives on integration of BSS subject matters into medical curriculum. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: The six following themes were emerged from data analysis: “physician-patient interaction”, “medical culture”, “facilitating behavior change”, “socio-cultural issues”, “mind-body medical experience” and “physician interaction with health care system”. Conclusion: The results revealed that “physician-patient interaction” was the most prominent among the emerged themes. The participants emphasized communication, professionalism, social accountability, and socio-cultural-psychological aspects.