Determination of medical students' social problem solving approach and the relationship between social problem solving approach and style and behaviors they head towards

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine medical students' problem solving approach, problem solving styles and the actions they take when they confront a problem. Materials and Method: Sample of this study is formed by 495 (76.1%) medical students at Class 1, 4 and 6 who are receiving education Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine during 2013-2014 school year. By way of a questionnaire created by us, Short Form of Social Problem Solving Inventory is employed. Among subscales of social problem solving, Positive Problem Orientation and Rational Problem Solving represent functional approach, whereas Negative Problem Orientation, Careless/Impulsive Style and Avoidant Style represent non-functional approach. Results: 53.9% of the students are male with mean age of 20.8±3.1 (16-46). Their problem solving skills have been evaluated to be at or around average level (Mean scores is calculated to be 62.4±11.9). It has also been detected that average scores in subscales Positive Problem Orientation, Careless/Impulsive and Avoidant Style are higher among male students (p<0.05), and that Careless/Impulsive and Avoidant Style tendencies decrease significantly as the class and age get higher (p<0.05). The actions usually preferred by the students when they confront a problem have been determined to include having a talk with friends (57%), special persons (54.1%) and family members (53.6%), sleeping (53.5%) and eating (52.8%). It is seen that some students head towards the behaviors such as smoking (10.3%), drinking alcohol (6.4%) and using substance (1.0%). Number of those who head towards the actions such as wandering on internet, displaying aggressive and violent behaviors, locking himself/herself in the room/house, chewing on personal mistakes and failures, playing games of chance, nail-biting and pulling hair has been detected to be significantly low considering total score (p<0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that our results may put a guiding light on elevating problem solving skills of the medical students, who are the doctors and role models of the future, from average level to good or very good level. Key words: Medicine, Student, Social Problem Solving