The dimensional structure of medical students' perceptions of diseases

First- and second-year medical students rated 35 diseases (e.g., cancer, heart attack, herpes, schizophrenia, alcoholism) on nine different rating scales (e.g., prognosis, ease of management). In order to uncover the underlying dimensional structure, mean ratings were subjected to multidimensional scaling analyses in which both diseases and rating scales were placed in the same configuration. The results indicated that a two-dimensional solution, accounting for 97% of the variance, was most appropriate. The first dimension distinguishes between diseases that appear to be more physiological in nature and those that have some psychological involvement as well. The second dimension seems most related to fear, seriousness, prognosis, patient desirability, and ease of management.The research reported in this paper was supported in part by Grant CA 18002-08 from the National Cancer Institute.