Effect of Psychiatric Education on Attitudes of Medical Students to Mental Illness

A multimedia program to educate the public about mental and addictive disorders

“…Table 1 shows the relative contributions of individual items from pre-to posttest. Although the variance explained is obviously small, as are the absolute item changes, the results are similar to those ofearlier studies ofeducational effects on attitude change (Bairan & Farnsworth, 1989;Jaffe et aI., 1979;Meltzer & Grigarian, 1972).…”

“…The magnitude of the mean difference from pretest to posttest is not large (4.76), but it is similar to that obtained by Bairan and Farnsworth (1989), Jaffe, Mooz, and Avram (1979), and Meltzer and Grigarian (1972), and larger than that obtained by Keane (1990). The mean score of the post-only group in our study did not differ significantly from the pretest score of the pre/post group (uncorrelated t = 1.4, P < .16), but was significant when compared with the control group (uncorrelated t = 2.57, p < .01).…”

Medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry: a conceptual shift

“…Little work has focused on students' attitudes in terms of underlying conceptual or ideological models. Meltzer & Grigorian (1972) assessed students' attitudes by means of the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale, developed by Cohen & Struening (1962). They found that students who expressed an interest in psychiatry as a career displayed a less authoritarian or less restrictive approach to mental illness.…”

Psychiatry as compared to other career choices: a survey of medical students in Hong Kong

“…The apparent lack of enthusiasm for psychiatry has caused considerable concern among medical educators including psychiatrists. Comparative studies have shown that students who are interested in psychiatry may be different from those who choose other specialties by being brighter in the verbal sphere (Meltzer & Grigorian 1972), less authoritarian (Livingston & Zimet 1965), more often non‐religious and tending to show interest in psychiatry at an earlier stage of medical education (Kritzer & Zimet 1967).…”