Number (%) of medical and law students in favour of informing or not informing about the diagnosis or prognosis of cancer if the patient asks not to be told
| (3) Diagnosis | (4) Prognosis | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical students | Law students | Medical students | Law students | |||||||||
| Score | M (n=127) | M1 (n=64) | M2 (n=63) | L (n=168) | L1 (n=75) | L2 (n=93) | M (n=127) | M1 (n=64) | M2 (n=63) | L (n=168) | L1 (n=75) | L2 (n=93) |
| *Mann-Whitney. | ||||||||||||
| †Between the two groups of students from the same faculty. | ||||||||||||
| Group M1 : 64 medical students at the end of their fifth year in 1996. | ||||||||||||
| Group M2 : 63 medical students at the beginning of their fifth year in 1996. | ||||||||||||
| Group L1 : 75 first to fourth year law students from an “international law” lecture in 1996. | ||||||||||||
| Group L2 : 93 mostly first year law students from a “law and medicine” lecture in 1996. | ||||||||||||
| Bold = all medical students; all law students. | ||||||||||||
| 1. Certainly do not tell | 30 (23.6) | 18 (28.1%) | 12 (19.0%) | 22 (13.1) | 8 (10.7%) | 14 (15.1%) | 53 (41.7) | 31 (48.4%) | 22 (34.9%) | 40 (23.8) | 14 (18.7%) | 26 (28.0%) |
| 2. Probably do not tell | 55 (43.3) | 31 (48.4%) | 24 (38.1%) | 69 (41.1) | 24 (32.0%) | 45 (48.4%) | 49 (38.6) | 25 (39.1%) | 24 (38.1%) | 65 (38.7) | 24 (32.0%) | 41 (44.1%) |
| 3. As likely to tell or not | 27 (21.3) | 10 (15.6%) | 17 (27.0%) | 17 (10.1) | 8 (10.7%) | 9 (9.7%) | 16 (12.6) | 6 (9.4%) | 10 (15.9%) | 19 (11.3) | 11 (14.7%) | 8 (8.6%) |
| 4. Probably tell | 10 (7.9) | 4 (6.3%) | 6 (9.5%) | 36 (21.4) | 24 (32.0%) | 12 (12.9%) | 5 (3.9) | 1 (1.6%) | 4 (6.3%) | 28 (16.7) | 18 (24.0%) | 10 (10.8%) |
| 5. Certainly tell | 5 (3.9) | 1 (1.6%) | 4 (6.3%) | 23 (13.7) | 11 (14.7%) | 12 (12.9%) | 4 (3.1) | 1 (1.6%) | 3 (4.8%) | 15 (8.9) | 8 (10.7%) | 7 (7.5%) |
| p Value* (law versus med.) | 0.0004 | <0.0001 | ||||||||||
| p Value* (same faculty†) | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.009 | ||||||||