Medical Students’ Attitudes towards and Beliefs about Dyslexia: A SingleCentre Survey Study

Abstract

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.”

Keywords

• dyslexia
• medical students
• medical school
• medical education
• mixed methods
• survey
• crosssectional