Stenhoff, Alexandra Laura, Sadreddini, Shireen, Peters, Sarah et al. · Journal of health psychology · 2015 · DOI
This study asked 21 UK medical students about their knowledge and attitudes toward ME/CFS. Most students had learned little about the condition in their medical training and picked up information informally instead. The researchers found that students struggled to understand ME/CFS using traditional medical thinking and suggested that better teaching—one that considers both physical and psychological factors—could help future doctors develop more helpful attitudes toward the illness.
This research highlights a significant gap in medical education that directly affects ME/CFS patients, since doctors who lack knowledge and understanding are less likely to recognize the condition or provide appropriate care. By identifying specific barriers to medical students' understanding, the study provides evidence-based recommendations for curriculum reform that could improve clinical attitudes and patient outcomes.
This study does not demonstrate that implementing biopsychosocial teaching would actually change student attitudes or improve patient care—only that students and researchers believe it could. The study describes attitudes among a small group of UK medical students and does not prove these attitudes are representative of all medical trainees globally or that they persist into clinical practice.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Stenhoff, Alexandra Laura, Sadreddini, Shireen, Peters, Sarah, & Wearden, Alison (2015). Understanding medical students' views of chronic fatigue syndrome: a qualitative study.. Journal of health psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105313501534
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-stenhoff-2015-understanding-medical,
author = {Stenhoff, Alexandra Laura and Sadreddini, Shireen and Peters, Sarah and Wearden, Alison},
title = {Understanding medical students' views of chronic fatigue syndrome: a qualitative study.},
journal = {Journal of health psychology},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1177/1359105313501534},
note = {PubMed: 24058124},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/stenhoff-2015-understanding-medical},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/stenhoff-2015-understanding-medical
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