P-835 - Attitude toward mental illnessamong medical students: comparison between basic science and clinical medical students

Abstract

Introduction and objectives Proper attitudes by medical students can impact on the quality of health care delivered to their patients. Negative attitude toward person with mental illness may form a barrier for patients to receive appropriate care. Aim The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of medical students toward mentally ill and to investigate impact of medical education on attitude among medical students. Method The study comprised 200 clinical &135 basic science medical students at the medical school of Shiraz university who agreed to participate. Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill questionnaire were used to assess attitude toward mental illness The tool focuses on measuring levels of authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness and community mental health ideology. Result There was little difference in attitudes about mental illness Between basic science- and clinical medical student except for restrictiveness (p value Conclusion Our sample overly have positive attitude about mental illness ,but there is no significant positive correlation between years of studying in medical university and attitude about mental illness . Medical school need to develop new curricula to convey scientific information to students and implementing and evaluating suitable programs leading to appropriate attitude development.