Infiltration of Health-related Pseudoscience Theories and Education Effects:A Questionnaire Study of Healthcare Students

Abstract

Various pseudoscientific theories regarding health and food sciences have spread widely among both the general public and healthcare professionals. This study examined the degree of infiltration of such theories, particularly in the professional medical community, through an investigation targeting students attending a medical training school. In addition, to compare if these students’ perceptions would be corrected by proper education, the investigation targeted a fixed group of students from the time of their entrance until graduation from medical training school. The result revealed that various pseudoscientific theories regarding health and food sciences had infiltrated deeply among many students, and that some of their perceptions of several such theories had not been altered between their entrance to and graduation from the school. At the same time, significant findings were obtained regarding differences in the educational effect among students due to differences in learning content in the subject of basic medical sciences according to students’ major fields of study. The importance of education with concrete context has been demonstrated in previous studies, along with the importance of enhancing the level of students’ science literacy; the results of this study suggest the necessity of the same approach, of ensuring concrete context regarding pseudoscientific theories on health and food sciences.