Medical Students Attitude Toward Psychiatry in Umm Al-Qura University: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Several studies worldwide reported negative attitude toward psychiatry from medical students and interns. Despite the increasing demand for psychiatry and mental health services, psychiatrists' numbers are still low, and the field of psychiatry is still attracting a lower number of medical students. Objective: This study aims to measure the attitude of medical students and interns toward psychiatry in Umm Al-Qura University medical college, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Method: A Cross-sectional study. A web-based Attitude Toward Psychiatry (ATP-30) questionnaire was distributed among randomly chosen interns and 6th-year medical students, who had completed their psychiatry course and rotation, and to fourth and 5th-year medical students, who did not have any previous exposure to psychiatry. Results: A total of 335 participants completed the survey, of which 168 were males, and 167 were females. Among them, only 53 are considering psychiatry as a career, while 193 did not, and 89 are not sure. The participants showed an overall positive attitude with the mean scoring of 98.09 ±12.22 on the ATP-30 questionnaire, with male participants showing more positive attitude (99.65±11.48) than female participants (96.44±12.79). The most neutral responses were about how facts in psychiatry are just vague speculations, how their undergraduate training in psychiatry was valuable, and that psychiatry cannot be taughteffectively because it is so amorphous. Negative attitude was observed in the areas concerning the choice of psychiatry as a future career and viewing psychiatric hospitals as little more than prisons. Positive attitude toward areas on the validity of psychotherapy, viewing psychiatry as a respected branch of medicine, attention toward mental illness, and the humanity of the mentally ill. Significant differences based on gender were observed in the areas measuring attitude toward psychiatric patients, psychiatric illness, psychiatry, and psychiatrists. The prior exposure to psychiatry teaching and practice did not seem to affect the attitude. Conclusions: Interns and students overall showed neutral to positive ATP. Proper evaluation and subsequent modification to the current

Impact of clinical posting in psychiatry on the attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness in undergraduate medical students

“…We found significant improvement in students’ thinking to be a psychiatrist in future (p=0.0002) post-term. This was also found in other previous studies,16 17 23 24 27–29 with few exceptions 18 22. There was an almost 23% surge in students agreeing to think about being a psychiatrist in the future, which is an asset that needs to be shaped further to reap dividends in the long run.…”

“…We may speculate various reasons for it like negative opinions about psychiatry and mental illness in general held by clinicians from other fields of medicine affecting students, or them not finding it as financially rewarding as other specialties, students finding it tough for them to be able to show the kind of patience, empathy and compassion that a psychiatrist may hold for his patient, inability of teachers to inculcate these attributes in students, negative views about psychiatry and mental illness held by family members and perception of low prestige of psychiatry or the students’ interest lying elsewhere. Similar reasons were also cited in other studies 18 22. We need to dive deep into these contradictions so as to understand the relationship between various factors like classroom teaching, clinical rotation, association of students with consultants and postgraduate students in psychiatry who teach their undergraduate counterparts, role of good role models and movies in psychiatry which we feel might be useful in transforming or aiding the positive attitude post-term into seriously considering psychiatry as a career choice.…”

To study the impact of psychiatry posting on attitude towards psychiatry and estimated likelihood of psychiatry as a career choice in female interns in North India

“…Our findings were much better than a study done by Sarhan et al 23 in which attitude towards only psychiatric patients and illness, and psychiatry and psychiatrists were statistically significant.…”

“…These findings were consistent with studies done in last few years. 22,23,24 On comparison of the ATP-30 scale's four groups, it was found that attitude of the interns in three groups towards psychiatry significantly (statistically) increased after the posting of 15 days except the attitude towards psychiatric hospitals and treatment.…”

Knowledge, attitudes, and practice of community pharmacists towards providing counseling on vitamins, and nutritional supplements in Saudi Arabia

“…This suggested that community pharmacist should be aware of the various brands, supplements, and vitamins available in the market, the working mechanism and the side effects [25] , [26] . Previous studies [27] , [28] have shown that community pharmacists dispensing vitamins and supplements should be aware of the drugs interactions with vitamins and the various supplement products, the side effects of the products [29] . A study conducted by Song et al [30] found that there was a significant correlation between the health condition being treated and the nature of vitamins and supplements being used.…”