Is there a relationship between personal reflection ability and moral reasoning ability in Indonesian medical students?

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship of personal reflection ability and moral reasoning ability of medical students of the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 293 medical students in Year-3 at the Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing after obtaining their agreement to participate in this research by signing an informed consent form. Personal reflection ability was measured by the Groningen Reflective Ability Scale (GRAS) questionnaire; moral reasoning ability was measured by the Defining Issues Test (DIT) questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, T-test, and regression analysis were used to analyze the anonymized results. RESULTS: The mean GRAS score of all students was 89.59 (SD = 6.80) (GRAS score ranged 0-110) which showed a high level. The mean score of Principled Morality Score (P) DIT of all students was 32.39 (SD=11.04), ranging between 28-41 which indicated a moderate level. In general, personal reflection ability scores of all students were positively correlated with their moral reasoning ability score. However, this correlation was not significant statistically (r=0.080, p=0.239). CONCLUSIONS: Personal reflection ability of medical students was correlated positively with their moral reasoning ability, however, statistically it was not significant . The high level of personal reflection ability needs to be maintained. The moderate moral reasoning ability needs some efforts to improve it. Further studies are necessary to assess other factors which influence the moral reasoning ability so that appropriate interventions can be developed.