“Why not psychiatry??” Interns of a medical college in Northern Kerala responds

Abstract

Purpose:This study is to assess the attitude of the medical interns toward psychiatry, psychiatrists and patients with mental health problems.Materials and Methods:A personal data sheet and the Balon et al. questionnaire was used to assess the attitude among medical interns (n = 44) of a medical college in Northern Kerala.Results:There was modestly good attitude toward psychiatry throughout the study. Data were compared between interns who have completed their posting in psychiatry and those who have not. There was no significant difference except for their awareness about consultation liaison services and the authoritative power of psychiatrists in mental health field. The stigma toward psychiatry is on the decline at least among medical professionals, and more interns are interested in taking up psychiatry as a future specialty.Conclusion:Although the study has evidenced a positive attitude to psychiatry, there is still room to improve. A clearer picture could be attained by conducting similar studies in a bigger sample size. A structured curriculum and compulsory internship during the undergraduate course have greatly contributed toward building a more positive opinion of the subject.

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

“…It was highly surprising to us that no interns had an overall negative attitude towards psychiatry. Positive attitude was also observed in some previous studies 3,9,[15][16][17][18] where 48% to 88% female interns showed positive attitude. Few studies [19][20][21] revealed have revealed that 9% to 65% interns showed negative attitude towards psychiatry after the posting, which is contrary to the present study where we did not observe any blantly negative attitude.…”

Assessment of nursing students’ attitudes and stigma towards mental illness: A cross-sectional study

“…In accordance with the present results, previous studies had demonstrated that medical and nursing students had reflected positive and acceptance attitudes towards mental illness. [1,26,27] In addition, physiotherapy students showed favorable attitudes towards mental illness. [12,13] In contrast to earlier findings, medical students illustrated negative attitudes toward mental illness [2,4,17] This inconsistency may be due to many reasons.…”