A multi-method exploratory study of health professional students’ experiences with compliance behaviours

BACKGROUND: Research in healthcare, including students as participants, has begun to document experiences with negative compliance, specifically conformity and obedience. There is a growing body of experimental and survey literature, however, currently lacking is a direct measure of the frequency at which health professional students have negative experiences with conformity and obedience integrated with psychological factors, the outcomes of negative compliance, and students’ perceptions. METHODS: To develop empirical knowledge about the frequency of negative compliance and student perceptions during health professional education a multi-methods survey approach was used. The survey was administered to health professional students across ten disciplines at four institutions. RESULTS: The results indicated students regularly experience obedience and conformity and are influenced by impression management and displacement of responsibility. Moral distress was identified as a consistent negative outcome. Student self-reported experiences aligned with the empirical findings. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study demonstrate the pervasiveness of experiences with negative compliance during health professional’s education along with some attendant psychological factors. The findings have educational and practical implications, as well as pointing to the need for further integration of social and cognitive psychology in explaining compliance in healthcare. The results are likely generalizable to a population level however replication is encouraged to better understand the true frequency of negative compliance at a health professional population level.