DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To improve medical education in the behavioral and social sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine proposes to develop, evaluate and export a four-year behavioral and social science integrated curriculum (BASSIC). We have established the following four specific aims to accomplish this goal: 1. We will develop and implement a behavioral and social science integrated curriculum (BASSIC) that encompasses and interconnects the formal and informal curricula. BASSIC will include 48 sets of behavioral and social science educational materials that will be made nationally available. 2. We will work with the AAMC to modify their national curriculum database [CurrMIT] for ease of entering and tracking BSS integrated curricular content. 3. We will capitalize on our nine-campus system, using them as BASSIC intervention and control campuses, to stepwise implement, study the impact, and improve the new BASSIC curriculum in diverse campus environments. 4. We will assess the effectiveness of BASSIC using multiple innovative evaluation methods that spring from the theories and methods of behavioral and social science applied to medical education and professional formation and will disseminate BASSIC nationally. To achieve these aims, we will assemble an interdisciplinary learning community of nationally recognized behavioral and social science and medical education experts who will work together to construct and implement BASSIC. BASSIC will be developed using team learning and standardized patient methodologies which will ensure that the new content is effectively integrated as a foundational, rather than added on, element of each course. Drawing on behavioral and social science-rich narratives culled from our informal curriculum, the BASSIC learning community will create carefully layered team learning and standardized patient case-based learning experiences. These will be woven in developmental^ appropriate ways through identified existing basic and clinical science courses in all four years and two new BASSIC courses. Our competency curriculum has created the curricular infrastructure necessary for this horizontal integration as well as the educational leadership needed to support ongoing BASSIC development and assessment. Once BASSIC has been constructed, our in-house national CurrMIT consultant, Ms. Stacey Keyton, will work with Brownell Anderson, and others to add behavioral and social science identification markers to CurrMIT to improve tracking in these areas. Simultaneously we will export BASSIC to two other of our nine campuses and will use our experience with these implementation sites to enhance our assessment of the effectiveness of BASSIC. Dr. Debra Litzelman, PI, is nationally recognized and well poised to lead education research in this area. Her Office of Medical Education and Curricular Affairs, an interdisciplinary team of medical education researchers, will examine the effectiveness of BASSIC in ILUSM's educational laboratory.