Medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry: a conceptual shift

Augoustinos, Martha; Schrader, G.; Chynoweth, R.; Reid, Mark W.

doi:10.1017/s0033291700031524

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The study confirms earlier reports of a significant positive impact of undergraduate psychiatric attachment on medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry, psychiatrists and mental illness (Lau & Offord 1976; Nielsen & Eaton 1981; Ghadirian & Engelsmann 1982; Burra et al 1982; Wilkinson et al 1983; Augostinos et al 1985; Creed & Goldberg 1987). There was no difference between the two teaching styles in the direction or magnitude of this attitudinal change.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Several studies have reported that medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry become more positive following undergraduate psychiatric training (Lau & Offord 1976; Nielsen & Eaton 1981; Ghadirian & Engelsmann 1982; Burra et al 1982; Wilkinson et al 1983; Augostinos et al 1985; Creed & Goldberg 1987) although some studies have found no measurable change (Walton 1969; O'Mahony 1979; Shuvak & Adler 1980; Yager et al 1982). Such attitudinal change is influenced by different teaching methods (Spiegel 1991) and by direct patient contact (Burra et al 1982).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Changing the attitudes of `tomorrow's doctors' towards mental illness and psychiatry: a comparison of two teaching methods

et al. 1998

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The General Medical Council's document 'Tomorrow's Doctors' (1993, GMC, London) recommended major changes in the undergraduate curricula of UK medical schools. In Nottingham, the fourth-year psychiatric attachment became shorter in duration, and interactive, problem-oriented, workshop-based learning replaced lectures. We compared the efficacy of this new teaching style in changing medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness with that of old-style, didactic, lecture-based teaching. On the first and last days of their psychiatric attachment, 110 fourth-year-medical students (45 old curriculum; 65 new curriculum) completed two self-administered attitudinal measures: the Attitude to Psychiatry Questionnaire (ATP-30) and the Attitude to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMI). We found that students had favorable attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness before the attachment. These attitudes became more positive after the attachment in students from both curricula, with no significant difference between the groups and no gender difference. Students found patient contact rewarding, become more accepting of community care, and had greater appreciation of the therapeutic potential of psychiatric interventions. The interactive, student-centred, problem-oriented teaching of the shortened new curriculum appeared as effective in changing medical student' attitudes as a longer attachment with traditional teaching.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing the attitudes of `tomorrow's doctors' towards mental illness and psychiatry: a comparison of two teaching methods

et al. 1998

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“…[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.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[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.…”

Section: Accepted For Publication 25 July 1988mentioning

confidence: 99%

Saudi Medical Students’ Attitudes to Psychiatry

Abdul-Rahim

El-Assra

1989

Ann Saudi Med

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Seventy-two Saudi medical students were asked to complete a British questionnaire to measure their attitude to psychiatry before and after a psychiatric training course at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh. Although the whole group appeared to show a favorable attitudinal change after the course, there was a significant difference in response between male and female students, showing the latter to have a more favorable attitude but less intention to specialize in psychiatry. Cultural factors strongly influenced the medical students' attitudes. 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. 13To 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. Therefore, we conducted this study on a sample of Saudi medical students to compare the Saudi medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry before and after a psychiatric training program and to compare our results with those of Western studies. MethodsThe British questionnaire of Wilkinson et al 6 was administered in its original English version to 72 fourth-year medical students undertaking psychiatric training (with instruction in English) at King Saud University, Division of Psychiatry, based at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh. The questionnaire was given to the students on their first day of the psychiatric course and again at the end of their training, 15 weeks later. The students were assured about the confidentiality of their responses and that the whole issue had no bearing whatsoever on their examinations.The questionnaire has been fully described elsewhere 6 and used in the attitude assessment of students. In brief, it comprised items on general attitude measured on a five-point scale, 1 indicating a "very favorable" and 5 indicating a "very unfavorable" attitude to psychiatry. The 18 specific attitudes to psychiatry pertained to psychiatrists, psychiatry, psychiatric patients, and psychiatric treatments, and the responses were indicated on a Likert-type scale. Nine of the 18 items indicated positive views, and nine implied negative ones. The attitudes were measured on a four-point scale from 1, "strongly agree," to 4, "strongly disagree." Finally, the students were asked to indicate their first and second career choices and to respond on a five-point scale measuring the likelihood of their intention to specialize in psychiat...

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“…There is considerable evidence that medical students experience a positive change of attitude towards psychiatry following their undergraduate psychiatric attachment 1–6 . However, the evidence is conflicting as to whether such change persists 5 , 7 or decays over time 8 , 9 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%