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Identity Theory And Women’S Choice Of Medical Specialty, Kelli A. Rolfsmeyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to answer the research question: Does a self theory of social action account for female physicians’ perceptions of past choice of specialty? Perceptions of self changed as she prepared herself to become a physician. During her medical training, a medical student gains a better sense of who she is as a person who will become a doctor. The ability to act back on one’s self, called selfreflexivity, is the mechanism involved in the transitions of a physician’s biographical self. The data for this study was collected through interviews centered on questions chosen from the …