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Predicting Medical Students' Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries.

ABSTRACT: Psychiatry as a medical discipline is becoming increasingly important due to the high and increasing worldwide burden associated with mental disorders. Surprisingly, however, there is a lack of young academics choosing psychiatry as a career. Previous evidence on medical students' perspectives is abundant but has methodological shortcomings. Therefore, by attempting to avoid previous shortcomings, we aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the predictors of the following three outcome variables: current medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in psychiatry, and estimated likelihood of working in psychiatry. The sample consisted of N?=?1,356 medical students at 45 medical schools in Germany and Austria as well as regions of Switzerland and Hungary with a German language curriculum. We used snowball sampling via Facebook with a link to an online questionnaire as recruitment procedure. Snowball sampling is based on referrals made among people. This questionnaire included a German version of the Attitudes Toward Psychiatry Scale (ATP-30-G) and further variables related to outcomes and potential predictors in terms of sociodemography (e.g., gender) or medical training (e.g., curriculum-related experience with psychiatry). Data were analyzed by linear mixed models and further regression models. On average, students had a positive attitude to and high general interest in, but low professional preference for, psychiatry. A neutral attitude to psychiatry was partly related to the discipline itself, psychiatrists, or psychiatric patients. Female gender and previous experience with psychiatry, particularly curriculum-related and personal experience, were important predictors of all outcomes. Students in the first years of medical training were more interested in pursuing psychiatry as a career. Furthermore, the country of the medical school was related to the outcomes. However, statistical models explained only a small proportion of variance. The findings indicate that particularly curriculum-related experience is important for determining attitudes toward psychiatry, interest in the subject and self-predicted professional career choice. We therefore encourage the provision of opportunities for clinical experience by psychiatrists. However, further predictor variables need to be considered in future studies.

SUBMITTER: Warnke I

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5857547 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Predicting Medical Students' Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries.

Warnke Ingeborg I Gamma Alex A Buadze Maria M Schleifer Roman R Canela Carlos C Strebel Bernd B Tényi Tamás T Rössler Wulf W Rüsch Nicolas N Liebrenz Michael M

Frontiers in psychiatry 20180312

Psychiatry as a medical discipline is becoming increasingly important due to the high and increasing worldwide burden associated with mental disorders. Surprisingly, however, there is a lack of young academics choosing psychiatry as a career. Previous evidence on medical students' perspectives is abundant but has methodological shortcomings. Therefore, by attempting to avoid previous shortcomings, we aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the predictors of the following three outcome v ...[more]

PMID: 29593577

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Project description:ObjectivePsychiatric comorbidities are common in physical illness and significantly affect health outcomes. Attitudes of general hospital doctors toward psychiatry are important as they influence referral patterns and quality of care. Little is known about these attitudes and their cultural correlates. The aim of this study was to identify attitudes toward psychiatry among general hospital specialists in relation to culture of the practice setting and other clinician factors (gender, age, seniority and specialty).MethodsA cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out in seven countries (New Zealand, China, Sri Lanka, Russia, Israel, Brazil, the Netherlands). Data were collected from senior medical staff of various disciplines using an updated version of Mayou and Smith's (1986) self-administered questionnaire.ResultsA total of 889 hospital doctors participated. While favourable attitudes toward both psychiatric consultation and management were endorsed by a majority, significant differences were also observed between countries. Subgroup differences were mostly confined to gender, acuity of practice setting and specialty. For example, female doctors in Russia (χ2=7.7, p=0.0056), China (χ2=9.2, p=0.0025) and the Netherlands (χ2=5.7, p=0.0174) endorsed more positive attitudes compared with their male counterparts, but this gender effect was not replicated in the total sample. Chronic care specialists were overall more inclined to manage patients' emotional problems compared with those working in acute care (χ2=70.8, p (adjusted)<0.0001), a significant finding seen also in individual countries (China, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Russia). Physicians were more favourably disposed toward psychiatry compared with other specialists, especially surgeons, in all countries except Israel.ConclusionsThis study adds to evidence for the association of medical attitudes with individual clinician factors and demonstrates that the influence of these factors varies by country. Understanding these issues may help to overcome barriers and improve quality of care provided to general hospital patients.

Project description:ObjectiveDespite recent advances in neuroscience highlighting its potential applications in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric disorders, the training of psychiatrists in neuroscience is lacking. However, it is not clear to what extent Canadian trainees are interested in further learning and using neuroscience in their daily clinical practice. This study explored the attitudes of Canadian psychiatry trainees with regard to neuroscience education and training by asking them to assess their own understanding of neuroscience and the perceived relevance of neuroscience knowledge to effective psychiatric practice.MethodsAn online questionnaire was sent to psychiatry residents at Canadian universities. This questionnaire consisted of self-assessments of neuroscience knowledge, attitudes toward neuroscience education, preferences in learning modalities, and interest in specific neuroscience topics.ResultsOne hundred and eleven psychiatry residents from psychiatry residency programs at Canadian universities responded to this survey. Participants represented trainees from all 5 years of residency. Almost half of all trainees (49.0%) reported their knowledge of neuroscience to be either "inadequate" or "less than adequate," and only 14.7% of trainees reported that they feel "comfortable" or "very comfortable" discussing neuroscience findings with their patients. 63.7% of Canadian trainees rated the quantity of neuroscience education in their residency program as either less than adequate or inadequate, and 46.1% rated the quality of their neuroscience education as "poor" or "very poor." The vast majority of participants (>70%) felt that additional neuroscience education would be moderately-to-hugely helpful in finding personalized treatments, discovering future treatments, destigmatizing patients with psychiatric illness, and understanding mental illness.ConclusionsCanadian trainees generally feel that their neuroscience knowledge and the neuroscience education they receive during their psychiatry residencies is inadequate. However, as the first step for any change, the majority of future Canadian psychiatrists are very motivated and have a positive attitude toward neuroscience learning.

Dataset Information

Predicting Medical Students' Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries.

Publications

Predicting Medical Students' Current Attitudes Toward Psychiatry, Interest in Psychiatry, and Estimated Likelihood of Working in Psychiatry: A Cross-Sectional Study in Four European Countries.

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