Medical students' attitude towards psychiatry: a ten-year comparison (original) (raw)
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Undergraduate psychiatric education and attitudes of medical students towards psychiatry
Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1986
The undergraduate Psychiatric Education i n lndia requires a revamping from the point of view of implementation National Mental Health Programme. Having this in mind the present curriculum and its influence over the attitudes of the under graduates towards psychiatry is evaulated. A questionnaire eliciting attitudes from medical students developed by Nielson and Eaton along w i t h Eysencks Personality lnventory wasadministered t o a group of Preclinical (N = 78) and clinical I N = 72) students. The results were analysed and discussed. Serious lacunae in under graduate education and the positive attitudes expressed by the study population were taken into consideration. Based on the tindings suggestions for future l h d e r graduate psychiatric education were made.
Comparison of attitudes toward psychiatry among undergraduate and postgraduate medical students
Open Journal of Psychiatry & Allied Sciences, 2021
Introduction: Attitudes toward psychiatry among medical students will have a great impact on future of expanding psychiatry and breaking barriers at multiple levels. Aims: To assess and compare the attitudes of undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) medical students toward psychiatry and assess association between sociodemographic variables and attitudes toward mental illness. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary health care centre, total of 100 (50 UG and 50 PG) medical students were recruited in the study. A standardised questionnaire, Attitudes Toward Psychiatry-30 items (ATP-30) and semi-structured proforma for sociodemographic details were given to study subjects to fill up. Statistical analysis: Both quantitative and qualitative measures of data were calculated. Statistical significance was kept at p-value of <0.05, using Fisher's exact test and Chi-square test. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Results: The overall ATP-30 score responses were positive (>90) in both males (88%) and females (62%). More number of positive responses were seen in both UG (68%) and PG (84%) medical students compared to only some negative responses in UG (22%) and PG (16%). This difference is significant at p-value <0.05. There is a significant difference (p-value <0.05) in attitudes among UG and PG students in item number four revealing 32% PGs wish was to be psychiatrist. Majority of the UGs and PGs agreed that UG psychiatric training is valuable. Conclusion: We have found overall good attitudes toward psychiatry in the study population but conflicting interest in taking psychiatry as career choice.
Attitude of medical students towards psychiatry
Medical Education, 1992
Context: Both psychiatry as a specialty and mental illnesses carry a lot of stigmatizing attitudes. Even medical professionals are not immune to prevailing stigma. Psychiatrists are perceived to have less scientific attitude, earn less money, to be less respected, and to have less prestige. Aims: The present study was designed to know the attitude of medical students with exposure to medical education, toward psychiatry as a specialty. Settings and Design: The study was conducted at Teerthanker mahaveer medical college, Moradabad. The study was done among 110 second year medical students. Materials and Methods: Self-administered sociodemographic and Attitude Toward Psychiatry-30 items questionnaire were given to the second-year medical students after a psychiatry lecture. Consent was taken individually from all the 2nd year medical students (total=150), out of which 40 students refused to give the consent. The questionnaire was explained in detail to the rest of the 110 students and the scores were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools. Statistical Analysis Used: unpaired t-test, one-way ANOVA test with post-hoc bonferroni test, Chi-square test using SPSS version 21. Results: nearly 63.6% of second year medical students had positive attitude toward psychiatry (chi-square value = 0.313, p=0.855). Only 22.7% second-year students affirmatively indicated to choose psychiatry as a career choice while 24.5% denied choosing psychiatry as a speciality and 52.7% had neutral attitude toward choosing psychiatry. Conclusions: There was no significant difference in distribution of ATP score between males and females. Despite all the stigma towards psychiatry our students had more positive attitude toward psychiatry. The most positive responses were received in the items such as " psychiatric illness deserve at least as much attention as physical illness", "psychiatry is a respected branch of medicine", psychiatric hospitals have a specific contribution to make to the treatment of the mentally ill ", "in recent years psychiatric treatment has become quite effective", psychiatry is the most important part of the curriculum in medical schools" and " if we listen to them psychiatric patients are just as human as other people".
Annals of Tropical Medicine & Public Health, 2021
BACKGROUND: Stigma and negative perceptions regarding psychiatric illness, psychiatric patients and the speciality as a whole is a common phenomenon across the globe. This is more prevalent in countries like India, with deeply ingrained cultural beliefs about psychiatric illness. Medical students are not an exception for this phenomenon. Psychiatry training plays a huge role in changing these negative perceptions. But the studies on the subject are scarce from India. AIM: This study is aimed at analysing medical students' perceptions of psychiatry before and after their clinical posting and theory lecture classes. METHODS: The current study was an analytical cross sectional study, involving two study groups (Interns and UG medical students). Attitude towards psychiatry-30 (ATP-30) scale, a valid reliable scale was used to measure the attitude of medical students towards psychiatry in different domains such as perception of psychiatry as a discipline, perception about psychiatric treatments, perception of psychiatrists as role models, perception of psychiatry as a career. RESULTS: As per the perceptions regarding psychiatry are concerned, no clear pattern could be identified across the two study groups. About 80% of the interns had felt that psychiatric patients are as human as other people, whereas this proportion was about 72.5% in UG students. Higher proportion of interns (about 60%) felt that it is interesting to work with psychiatric patients than other patients, as compared to 47% in UG students. Higher proportion of interns has expressed strong agreement with positive aspects of psychiatric training. The proportion of interns expressing positive agreement with psychiatric treatment as valuable, most important part of their medical curriculum was about 43.3% and 56.7%, whereas this proportion was only 22.5% and 40% among UG students. Higher proportion of UG students was willing to be psychiatrist (about 30%) than Interns (about 10%). CONCLUSION: Psychiatry training had enhanced the positive perception about psychiatry
Assessing the attitudes of medical students towards psychiatry: A new paradigm
Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2019
Background: Gauging the probability that medical students will select psychiatry as a career is a challenge, especially in Saudi Arabia, where the profession of psychiatry has still to gain ground. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the attitudes of Saudi medical students towards psychiatry. Method: A total of 317 medical students were recruited in a cross-sectional study. An ATP-30 questionnaire was used. In addition to the suggested cutoff point of 90 in previous studies, the data were also categorized using the visual binning procedure. To enhance the number of significant predictors and obtain more realistic results, an Ordinal Logistic Regression model was applied. Result: The attitudes of medical students towards the three outcomes (dependent) variables; "Overall attitudes towards psychiatry, I want to be a psychiatrist, and Attitudes towards psychiatric treatment" varied across the five explanatory (predictor) variables, when assessed using Ordinal Logistic Regression. Age and gender proved significant with the three outcome variables, whereas Exposure to Psychiatric Clerkship identified "Overall attitudes towards psychiatry" and "Attitudes towards psychiatric treatment". Significant effects from a "Psychiatrist Relative" was found in "Overall attitudes towards psychiatry"and "I want to be a psychiatrist". The predictor variable; "Having a relative who is a psychiatric patient" was found to be significant only with, "I want to be a psychiatrist". Conclusion: The attitudes of medical students towards psychiatry can be predicted in the presence of specific factors. This is discussed in more detail in the relevant part of the study.
Medical Students' Attitudes Toward Psychiatry and Mental Disorders
Academic Psychiatry, 2005
We conducted a survey study of medical students attending the 1980 American Medical Student Association (AMSA) Convention to determine what their attitudes were toward psychiatry and psychiatrists. A sampie group of 103 participants were given a two part survey, consisting of a verbal interview portion and a written portion, that utilized a 1-5 scale where 1 was positive and 5 negative. Our data showed that a majority of respondents, in both the verbal and written portion of the survey, had a positive attitude toward psychiatry. Though a positive attitude existed toward psychiatrists it was not as strong as toward psychiatry.
Differences in Attitudes among Medical Students towards Psychiatry in One English University
Psychological Reports, 1995
Responses of 146 medical students in the final academic year on the Attitudes Towards Psychiatry Questionnaire were obtained before and after the clerkship in psychiatry. While there were no significant differences between the 57 men and 89 women, students' image of psychiatrists did not change but several initially held attitudes about psychiatric practice and training improved following the clerkship.