[What expectations do medical students in the new federal state have of a psychosomatic medicine practicum?].

Including psychotherapy and psychosomatics in the medical curriculum of universities in East Germany (in accordance with current German regulations for doctor's licence to practise) offered an important opportunity to increase psychosocial competence while at the same time the legal aspects, which had differed before the German reunification, were also adjusted and equalised. Whereas the corresponding theory is presented in lectures, in a psychosomatic seminar the students should perceive and learn to handle the emotional exchange in the relation between doctor and patients. A questionnaire dealing with patient expectations at Halle university was analysed with respect to more cognitive and more affective expectations towards the seminar with particular reference to the gender of the interrogated subject and to individual wishes regarding subsequent specialist training. By means of a two-point survey we also explored the extent to which the psychosomatic seminar came up to the expectations of the students. This investigation came to the conclusion that conditions for communicating affective contents within a psychosomatic seminar are better than usually assumed.