Abstract
Aims and methodWe assess and compare: (a) the attitudes of final-year medical students in 2010 to their 1994 counterparts; (b) the attitudes of third-year medical students with those of their final-year colleagues; (c) the impact of two different teaching modules on students' attitudes. All students completing the year 3 psychiatry preclinical module and the final-year clinical clerkship were asked to anonymously complete three well-validated attitudinal questionnaires on the first and final day of their module in psychiatry.ResultsThese data indicate that Irish medical students have a positive attitude to psychiatry even prior to the start of their clinical training in psychiatry. This attitude is significantly more positive now than it was in 1994. A positive attitudinal change was brought about only by the final-year psychiatric clerkship. Students who have completed a degree prior to medicine are less likely to express an interest in a career in psychiatry.Clinical implicationsIf we are to address the recruitment difficulties in psychiatry we need to look at innovative and specific ways of translating these positive attitudes into careers in psychiatry.
Highlights
These data indicate that Irish medical students have a positive attitude to psychiatry even prior to the start of their clinical training in psychiatry
Students who have completed a degree prior to medicine are less likely to express an interest in a career in psychiatry
In a survey 16 years ago we found that the perception of psychiatry in an Irish university was positive prior to and immediately following an 8-week clinical clerkship and on completion of the programme there was an increase in the proportion of students who indicated that they might choose a career in psychiatry.[3]
Summary
In the final-year sample, 169 students of a total of 198 students completed at least one of the questionnaires, only 147 students (88 females, 59 males) could be identified as completing both pre- and post-questionnaires and be included in the analysis (74%). Compared with the final-year students in 1994, finalyear students in 2010 were significantly more positive in their attitude to psychiatry both pre- and post-clerkship, as measured on the ATP-30 and on the SATP (Table 2). The difference between the two samples post-clerkship score was statistically significant (ATP: t = 10.6, P50.001; SATP: t = 8.7835, P50.001). The pre-module mean SATP score was lower than the 2010 final-year sample at 52 Students who expressed an interest in becoming a psychiatrist at the end of either of the modules were more likely to score higher on both the ATP-30 and the SATP (third year: r = 70.55, P50.001; final year: r = 70.44, P50.001). In 1994, 34% of students expressed negative attitudes to psychiatry; views expressed at this time included statements that psychiatry was ‘too vague’, ‘unscientific’, ‘depressing’ and that it was associated with ‘low job satisfaction’
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