scholarly journals How Mental Illness is Perceived by Iranian Medical Students: A Preliminary Study

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homayoun Amini ◽  
Reza Majdzadeh ◽  
Hasan Eftekhar-Ardebili ◽  
Amir Shabani ◽  
Rozita Davari-Ashtiani

The study aimed to assess medical students' attitudes toward mental illness following a 4-week psychiatry clerkship. All fifth-year medical students from three academic centers in Tehran were asked to participate in the study. They completed the questionnaire on the last day of their 4-week psychiatry clerkship. A self-administered questionnaire was used to examine participants' Attitudes Toward Mental Illness (ATMI). One hundred and sixty eight students completed the questionnaires (88.9% response rate). In general, the students had favorable attitudes toward mental illness at the end of their clerkship, with mean (± SD) ATMI total score of 78.6 (± 8.1) (neutral score, 66.0). The students showed the most favorable opinion (95.2%) about Category 5 (stereotypic attitude toward people with mental illness) whilst they revealed the least favorable opinion (64.3%) regarding Category 1 (social relations with people affected by mental illness). In addition, the students thought that movies were on the top of influential media on shaping the attitudes toward mental illness. Overall, most of Iranian medical students had generally favorable attitudes toward people with mental illness at the end of their clerkship. Therefore, it may be expected next generation of medical doctors show more favorable attitude toward mental illness.

2015 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 001-002
Author(s):  
Vijayalakshmi Poreddi ◽  
Rohini Thimmaiah ◽  
Suresh Bada Math

ABSTRACT Background: Globally, people with mental illness frequently encounter stigma, prejudice, and discrimination by public and health care professionals. Research related to medical students’f attitudes toward people with mental illness is limited from India. Aim: The aim was to assess and compare the attitudes toward people with mental illness among medical students’. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out among medical students, who were exposed (n = 115) and not exposed (n = 61) to psychiatry training using self-reporting questionnaire. Results: Our findings showed improvement in students’ attitudes after exposure to psychiatry in benevolent (t = 2.510, P < 0.013) and stigmatization (t = 2.656, P < 0.009) domains. Further, gender, residence, and contact with mental illness were the factors that found to be influencing students’ attitudes toward mental illness. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that psychiatric education proved to be effective in changing the attitudes of medical students toward mental illness to a certain extent. However, there is an urgent need to review the current curriculum to prepare undergraduate medical students to provide holistic care to the people with mental health problems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-56
Author(s):  
A Bakare ◽  
L Yakubu ◽  
M Yunusa ◽  
A Bioku ◽  
M Raji ◽  
...  

Background: Attitude towards mental illness influence the nursing students’ choice to take up training and placement in psychiatry as a specialty. The aim of the study was to examine nursing students' attitudes towards mental illness in terms of aetiology, social relations with patients and self-disclosure regarding mental illness. Methods: This was a descriptive quasi-experimental study conducted among all the sixty nursing students attending a 6-week psychiatry posting at Federal Neuropsychiatry Hospital Kware, Sokoto State and Psychiatry unit of General Hospital Katsina, Northwest Nigeria in July 2018. Attitudes toward Mental Illness (ATMI), a self-administered questionnaire was given to the participants before and after six-week posting in psychiatry. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.  Results: After 6 weeks posting in psychiatry there was improvement in the participants’ positive attitude towards social relation in person with mental illness, willingness to self-disclosure regarding mental illness and etiology of mental illness compare to before the commencement of psychiatry posting. Majority (81%) reported that movies have negative influence on their attitude toward mental illness. Conclusion: The 6-week psychiatry posting has positive effects on nursing students' attitudes towards mental illness. Movies contribute negatively towards majority of the participants’ attitude to mental illness. Use of psychodrama is being suggested to educate people on the etiology and treatment of mental illness. This study provides evidence-based recommendation for mandatory psychiatry posting among other health workers under training and use of psychodrama to educate the public on mental illness.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (03) ◽  
pp. 349-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijayalakshmi Poreddi ◽  
Rohini Thimmaiah ◽  
Suresh Bada Math

ABSTRACT Background: Globally, people with mental illness frequently encounter stigma, prejudice, and discrimination by public and health care professionals. Research related to medical students′ attitudes toward people with mental illness is limited from India. Aim: The aim was to assess and compare the attitudes toward people with mental illness among medical students′. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was carried out among medical students, who were exposed (n = 115) and not exposed (n = 61) to psychiatry training using self-reporting questionnaire. Results: Our findings showed improvement in students′ attitudes after exposure to psychiatry in benevolent (t = 2.510, P < 0.013) and stigmatization (t = 2.656, P < 0.009) domains. Further, gender, residence, and contact with mental illness were the factors that found to be influencing students′ attitudes toward mental illness. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that psychiatric education proved to be effective in changing the attitudes of medical students toward mental illness to a certain extent. However, there is an urgent need to review the current curriculum to prepare undergraduate medical students to provide holistic care to the people with mental health problems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S434-S434
Author(s):  
C. Oliver ◽  
O. Adekunte ◽  
B. Owen

BackgroundMental illness is subject to stigma, discrimination and prejudice by both healthcare professionals and public. Fortunately, students are still flexible in their beliefs and there is evidence that education in psychiatry may help to positively alter these beliefs. This survey looks into how psychiatry placement positively influences attitudes of medical students to mental illness.AimsTo elicit the effect of clinical attachment in psychiatry on 3rd year medical students’ attitudes toward mental illness.MethodsQuestionnaires were administered to four cohorts of students pre- and post-attachment. Responses were anonymised. Responses were based on Yes/No, free text, order of preference and Likert scale. Analysis was with basic statistical analysis.ResultsNinety-eight pre- and 81 post-placement students responded. There was a 4% increase in mean positive attitude scores following the placement. There was no significant difference in the medical students’ attitudes to violence in mental illness and that patients with mental illness do not want you to help them. Students post-attachment were more likely to disagree with the statement, ‘Psychiatric patients are difficult to like’. However, 6% more students agreed with the statement ‘Alcohol abusers have no self-control’ after the placement!Conclusions and recommendationFollowing the 4-week attachments, the percentage of students reporting more positive attitudes to mental illness showed only a marginal increase. A possible explanation may be insufficient contacts with patients and a feeling of not been part of the treating team.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


1981 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margo A. Napoletano

Those 16 students who had completed the two psychology courses (a) tended to complete the practicum and (b) reported being more influenced by experiential rather than cognitive components of the practicum. In view of the previously reported findings of favorable attitude change following a psychiatric practicum for the students who had completed the two psychology courses, over-all results presented in both reports (a) confirm previous studies which suggest the effectiveness of a psychiatric practicum in changing nursing students' attitudes toward mental illness and (b) empirically support Rabkin's 1977 statement that academic instruction seems maximally effective in combination with factors such as personal experience with mental patients, etc. (as reported by the student nurses) in changing attitudes toward mental illness.


BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S8-S9
Author(s):  
George Blanchard ◽  
Louis Quail ◽  
Grace Yang ◽  
Katherine Terence ◽  
Amisha Kalra ◽  
...  

AimsWe sought to develop a teaching pilot to help year 2 medical students meet the following learning outcomes: Develop a better understanding of patient and carer experiences of mental illness; Recognise and challenge unhelpful attitudes towards people with mental illness; Promote a broader understanding of cultural issues surrounding mental illness, including stigma and discrimination.Method337 medical students were invited to attend a lecture by author LQ, a documentary photographer who presented a narrative of his brother Justin's lived experience of schizophrenia (louisquail.com/big-brother-introduction). 197 students attended the session, which was recorded and made available online. Students were invited to enter a competition to win a signed copy of LQ's book, ‘Big Brother’ and asked to submit either a 500-word written reflective piece, or a creative work accompanied by a 200-word statement. 13 submissions were received, including paintings, drawings, collage, photography, and poetry, all of which were blind rated by authors SR and GB, based on originality and quality of reflection. Of the six shortlisted, three winning entries were chosen by author LQ.ResultAll reflections moved away from a technical understanding of schizophrenia, towards person-centred interpretations, with dominant themes of ‘stigma’, ‘disempowerment’, ‘understanding people as individuals’, ‘subjective experience of mental illness’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘healing power of nature’.The three prize winners (authors GY, AK and KT) used different mediums: GY painted an osprey over a chaotic collage of disordered and stigmatizing words (the osprey representing empowerment and the “reservoir for wellbeing in nature”); AK's sonnet began as an ode to the chaos of Justin's experience, but the concluding lines reframed this struggle, conveying feelings of hope and beauty; and KT's self-portrait, produced with a slow shutter-speed photograph, powerfully conveyed a sense of disorientation and disturbance. She reflected on how the stigma of mental illness affects self-perception. The talk was well-attended, and reflections were of high quality. A limitation of this pilot was that only a small proportion of students completed the reflective assignment.ConclusionInnovative teaching strategies are needed to address negative attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry, which are prevalent amongst the medical profession. This pilot provides a model for combining carer-led, reflective, and creative elements in undergraduate psychiatry teaching, with the aim of challenging stigma. This model will be evaluated in a further study involving fifth year medical students, which will use a validated scale to measure change in students’ attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-406
Author(s):  
Codruta Alina Popescu ◽  
Anca Dana Buzoianu ◽  
Soimita Mihaela Suciu ◽  
Sebastian Mihai Armean

Background. Stigmatizing attitudes to mental illness, and especially schizophrenia, are not limited to the general population but are also common among health professionals. Health professionals are in a position to model health related attitudes both in the general public and patients. Medical students are an interesting group to focus upon, since they are future health professionals and correcting stigmatizing attitudes is still possible during their educational curriculum.Methods. This study investigated the attitude toward mental illness in medical students at the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy. We surveyed first year students, since they have not yet received specific classes or internships in psychiatry; 322 students from the Romanian and English sections participated, representing a response rate of 94.7%. The questionnaire consisted of the Romanian and English versions of Link's Social Distance Scale towards people with mental illness scale.Results. Overall, medical students had a relatively negative attitude towards people with mental illness, with moderate social distance and stereotypical attitudes. The level of personal contact with people with mental illness was correlated with positive attitudes. International students had scored lower then Romanian students on social distance toward mentally ill patients.Conclusions. Medical education can play an important role in the attitudes of students toward mental illness. Medical students have stigmatizing attitudes about mentally ill patients. Personal contact with people suffering from mental illness might contribute to a positive attitude from the medical students toward mentally ill patients.


1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (7) ◽  
pp. 338-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
NR Chumbler ◽  
JM Robbins

This study examines podiatric medical students' perceptions toward podiatric medicine, their impressions of their geriatric training, and their attitudes toward treating elderly patients. A questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of 240 podiatric medical students at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. The survey response rate was 57.1%. In general, the podiatric medical students were satisfied with their geriatric training; however, they believed that more geriatric training is needed. Podiatric medical students who entered podiatric medicine for intrinsic reasons, who visited their grandparents frequently, and who had close relationships with them while growing up, had favorable impressions toward geriatric patients. Furthermore, those who have had good geriatric instruction are more likely to have favorable impressions of geriatric patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document