%0 Journal Article
%T Swedish medical students' expectations of their future life
%A Saima Diderichsen
%A Jenny Andersson
%A Eva E. Johansson
%A Petra Verdonk
%J International Journal of Medical Education
%D 2011
%I IJME
%R 10.5116/ijme.4ec5.92b8
%X Objectives: To investigate future life expectations among male and female medical students in their first and final year. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted at a Swedish medical school. Out of 600 invited students, 507 (85 answered an open-ended question about their future life, 298 (59 first-year students and 209 (41 last-year students. Women constituted 60of the respondents. A mixed model design was applied; qualitative content analysis was utilized to create statistically comparable themes and categories. Results: Students' written answers were coded, categorized and clustered into four themes: "Work", "Family", "Leisure" and "Quality of personal life". Almost all students included aspects of work in their answers. Female students were more detailed than male ones in their family concerns. Almost a third of all students reflected on a future work-life balance, but considerations regarding quality of personal life and leisure were more common among last-year students. Conclusions: Today's medical students expect more of life than work, especially those standing on the doorstep of working life. They intend to balance work not only with a family but also with leisure activities. Our results reflect work attitudes that challenge the health care system for more adaptive working conditions. We suggest that discussions about work-life balance should be included in medical curricula.
%K medical students
%K gender
%K future expectations
%K physician¡¯s role
%K work-life balance
%U http://www.ijme.net/archive/2/students-expectations-of-their-future-life.pdf