Value of attitude questionnaires for assessing oncology teaching of medical students: experience of Fondation Bergonié, Bordeaux.

The importance of psychosocial aspects of cancer and cancer patients is now well recognized, but the means for teaching them to medical students and for assessing this teaching are not yet well established. The use of attitude questionnaires appears helpful after our experience over five years among more than 100 students observed during a four-month hospital course. After reviewing this experience we suggest ways to improve such questionnaires and to better include their use in a general assessment of teaching according to well-determined objectives. Such an assessment is necessary for improving education of medical students and for increasing their abilities to better meet the needs of future patients.