Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Master of Education

Program

Education

Supervisor

Dr. Kathryn Hibbert

Abstract

In recent years, many medical schools have adopted a ‘social accountability’ approach, implementing a variety of activities and curricula aimed at developing a sense of social responsibility in medical students. The research of this thesis uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to scrutinize the writing of senior medical students, with a view to uncovering how identity, ideology, and social position are expressed by students who have undertaken a curriculum designed with social accountability in mind. The analysis examines the conditions of discourse practice, student orientations to a professional medical identity, and ideologies of community, rurality, indigeneity, and gender. I discuss these findings in the larger context of the hidden curriculum in medical education, social accountability, reflective and reflexive practice, and propose a framework for moving forward toward the development of a curricular intervention to address these issues.

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