The Potential Application of Mindset Theory to Surgical Education

Mindset theory proposes that individuals hold a range of beliefs regarding the malleability of attributes such as intellect and skill. Within surgery, mindset theory has been discussed as a way of understanding achievement in both the cognitive and technical aspects of learning surgery. A review of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of surgical education 2022-07, Vol.79 (4), p.845-849
Main Authors: Coppersmith, Nathan A, Esposito, Andrew C, Yoo, Peter S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Achievement
Adolescent
Child
Educational Status
fixed mindset
growth mindset
Humans
Income
Learning
mindset
Students
surgical education
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Mindset theory proposes that individuals hold a range of beliefs regarding the malleability of attributes such as intellect and skill. Within surgery, mindset theory has been discussed as a way of understanding achievement in both the cognitive and technical aspects of learning surgery. A review of the literature reveals a limited body of research that has addressed the mindsets of surgeons or by extension, tied those mindsets to outcomes. Within health professions education, mindset theory has been studied more broadly, but the benefits of mindset theory are largely assumed and drawn from education research regarding children and adolescents. Though mindset theory has gained traction, there has been debate regarding the traits associated with growth and fixed mindsets. The strongest evidence from primary and secondary education shows that low socioeconomic status and academically at-risk students can benefit the most from mindset interventions, and these findings may extend to surgical learning as well. Mindset theory offers an interesting lens to better understand surgical education, but more research is needed to characterize the mindsets of surgeons and understand how these mindsets influence performance and outcomes.
ISSN:1931-7204
1878-7452
DOI:10.1016/j.jsurg.2022.03.008