Abstract
Mental health and physical health are interconnected. Attitude of medical professionals towards mentally ill affects the quality of care the patient receives. Today's medical students are tomorrow's medical practitioner. We conducted a study in a teaching hospital to assess the attitude towards mental illness among medical students and interns. A descriptive cross sectional study was performed in 265 students in Kathmandu Medical College in August, 2017. Opinion about Mental Illness (OMI) questionnaire developed by Cohen and Struening was used. Of the total participants, 132 (49.8%) were male and 133 (50.2%) were female. Medical students were more authoritarian, more benevolent and believed that mental illness is like any other medical illness. They showed neutral attitude in terms of social restriction of mentally ill and interpersonal relationship as a cause of mental illness. Positive attitude was seen only in terms of benevolence and mental hygiene ideology. Effective teaching and training programs is necessary to bring in positive attitude change towards mentally ill among medical students.
Highlights
Mental health and physical health are interconnected
Effective teaching and training programs is necessary to bring in positive attitude change towards mentally ill among medical students
A study among the medical students and interns in Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences showed that the medical students and interns had neutral attitude towards people with mental illness.[6]
Summary
Attitude of medical professionals towards mentally ill affects the quality of care the patient receives. We conducted a study in a teaching hospital to assess the attitude towards mental illness among medical students and interns. 450 million people are suffering from some sort of mental illnesses.[1] In Nepal, approximately 20-30% of adult patients visiting Primary Health Care services with somatic symptoms show psychiatric morbidity.[2]. Many mentally ill people remain undiagnosed or underdiagnosed because they hesitate to seek medical help due to the existing stigma and discrimination.[3] Stigma exists even in the health care system.[4,5] This stigma affects patient care. A study among the medical students and interns in Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences showed that the medical students and interns had neutral attitude towards people with mental illness.[6]
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