Assessing Medical Students Perception on Personal Values and Professional Ethics

Abstract

This study assessed medical students’ perceptions of personal values and professional ethics and explored how sociocultural, educational, and clinical influences shape their understanding of these domains. A qualitative approach using a phenomenological/content-analysis design was applied. One hundred respondents were included, comprising 50 medical students and 50 clinical medicine students from the School of Health and Medical Sciences, State University of Zanzibar. Data were collected through unstructured interviews adapted from the Schwartz Values Survey and analysed in Taguette through systematic coding and thematic identification. Participants described personal values and professional ethics in relation to self-awareness, communication and interpersonal skills, professional identity, moral reasoning, and knowledge of ethical issues. Family and upbringing, the education system, culture and ethnicity, and religion or spirituality were identified as sociocultural influences. Educational and clinical experiences were reflected in role modelling and the hidden curriculum, learning through experience, ethical instruction and guidance, reflective practice, and feedback and assessment. Students also reported challenges in integrating personal values with professional expectations, including emotional and psychological burden, knowledge-to-practice gaps, cultural and social tensions, conflicting values, and patients’ values and social expectations. The findings indicate that medical students’ personal values and professional ethics are interrelated and shaped by multiple personal, educational, and sociocultural influences. Ethics education may therefore benefit from reflective practice, constructive role modelling, feedback, and attention to individual values and experiences.