Medical Students' Attitudes About Psychiatry

Anti-stigma films and medical students' attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry: randomised controlled trial

“…Indeed, surveys of mental health service users have revealed a relatively high prevalence of stigma and discrimination from healthcare professionals (Wahl, 1999). Although several studies have found that medical students and doctors often regard psychiatric patients as difficult and unrewarding to treat (Nielsen & Eaton, 1981;Lawrie et al, 1998), other research has reported that medical students' attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry become more positive following undergraduate training (Creed & Goldberg, 1987;Singh et al, 1998), particularly where that training involves both patient contact and education about the effects of stigma (Corrigan & Penn, 1999). Given the labour-intensive nature of existing anti-stigma interventions (Pinfold et al, 2003) and the power of audiovisual media to influence societal constructions of mental illness (Wahl, 1995), researchers have postulated that documentary films depicting people diagnosed with mental health problems may offer a more efficient approach to reducing stigma and discrimination among student groups (Penn et al, 2003).…”

Saudi Medical Students’ Attitudes to Psychiatry

“…[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Furthermore, all students showed more favorable specific views about psychiatry after the course, and this particularly applied to being less critical of psychiatrists. The differences between the male and female students' attitudes are striking, however, as these differences have not been reported in any Western studies.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] The inability to attract medical students to specialize in psychiatry has always been a serious challenge and threat to psychiatric recruitment. 1,5 A more optimistic view, however, has indicated that exposure to clinical psychiatry brings about a favorable change of attitude toward psychiatry, as has been reported by a number of studies in Great Britain, 6,7 the United States, [8][9][10] Canada, 11 Australia, 12 and France. 13 To our knowledge there have been no studies in Saudi Arabia on medical students' opinions of psychiatry and, furthermore, the effect of psychiatric training programs on attitudinal changes.…”

“…FM Abdul-Rahim, A El-Assra, Saudi Medical Students' Attitudes to Psychiatry. 1989; 9(2): 190-194 Numerous studies have shown that medical students regard psychiatry as a low-prestige and low-status specialty.1-4 The inability to attract medical students to specialize in psychiatry has always been a serious challenge and threat to psychiatric recruitment.1,5 A more optimistic view, however, has indicated that exposure to clinical psychiatry brings about a favorable change of attitude toward psychiatry, as has been reported by a number of studies in Great Britain, 6,7 the United States, [8][9][10] Canada, 11 Australia, 12 and France. …”

“…1,5 A more optimistic view, however, has indicated that exposure to clinical psychiatry brings about a favorable change of attitude toward psychiatry, as has been reported by a number of studies in Great Britain, 6,7 the United States, [8][9][10] Canada, 11 Australia, 12 and France.…”