Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Aims and method
This study evaluated a pilot psychiatry summer school for GCSE students in terms of participant experience, effects on attitudes to mental illness and perception of psychiatry as a career option. This was done using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale, career choice questionnaires and a discussion group following the week-long programme attended by 26 students.Results
Students were significantly more likely to choose psychiatry after the summer school (P = 0.01). There were statistically significant changes in scores for social restrictiveness (P = 0.04) and community mental health ideology (P = 0.02). Qualitative analysis generated four themes: variation in expectations, limited prior knowledge, perception of the summer school itself and uniformly positive attitudes to psychiatry after the summer school.Clinical implications
Targeting students at this early stage appears to be an underexplored positive intervention for improving both attitudes towards mental illness and recruitment to psychiatry.
SUBMITTER: Wyke C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8112016 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Wyke Clementine C de Bernier Glori-Louise GL Sin Fai Lam Chun Chiang CC Holt Clare C Butler Sophie S Rajamani Anto Praveen Rajkumar APR Wilson Jones Charlotte C
BJPsych bulletin 20210401 2
<h4>Aims and method</h4>This study evaluated a pilot psychiatry summer school for GCSE students in terms of participant experience, effects on attitudes to mental illness and perception of psychiatry as a career option. This was done using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale, career choice questionnaires and a discussion group following the week-long programme attended by 26 students.<h4>Results</h4>Students were significantly more likely to choose psychiatry after the summer ...[more]