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Students' attitudes towards psychiatry
Author(s) -
CREED F.,
GOLDBERG D.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1987.tb00695.x
Subject(s) - psychology , medical education , medline , psychiatry , medicine , political science , law
Summary. Using a reliable measure, a self‐administered questionnaire (ATP), and adequate numbers of students, this study demonstrates the negative effects of general medical/surgical training and the positive effect of the psychiatry clerkship on students' reported attitudes towards psychiatry. A negative view of psychiatry at the beginning of the clerkship may make students reluctant to improve their interview skills but is otherwise unimportant in determining their reactions and performance in the clerkship. Medical students' interest in psychiatry as a career increases during the psychiatry clerkship but this merely offsets the decline in interest that occurs at other stages during the clinical training. Much of the attitudinal change that occurs during the psychiatry clerkship is maintained into the pre‐registration year but the housemen recorded a significant negative change on the items concerning efficacy of psychiatric treatment and attitudes towards psychiatric patients. Additional training by psychiatrists during the pre‐registration year might increase the motivation of young doctors to detect and treat psychiatric illness which they will encounter in all branches of medicine.