The attitude of first and sixth year medical students in Cairo University towards psychiatry

Objectives: to assess and compare the attitude of first and sixth year medical students in Cairo University towards psychiatry; as a medical discipline and a profession, psychiatrists, psychiatric treatments and psychiatric teaching. Method: 848 students responded anonymously on a 25 statement questionnaire that was developed from an original 53 item questionnaire used in a previous study. Questionnaire statements were judged to be valid, culturally sensitive and reliable (alpha=0.74). First year students had no encounter with psychiatry while sixth year students were approached right after the end of their three-week psychiatry attachment. Results: psychiatry is viewed as being vague and a waste of medical training by both first and sixth year students. It is viewed as a possible last resort residency by sixth year students. Although the importance of psychiatric drug treatments and hospitals are recognized, the harms are over emphasized. Psychiatrists are “normal” and valued for their humanistic qualities but hard to consider as “equal” to other doctors especially by first year students. Psychiatric liaison consultations and teaching are recognized as being important for other medical patients especially by sixth year students. Psychiatry’s position as “the important” branch in the medical curriculum is perceived worse by sixth year students and psychiatry teaching is seen as inefficient because it is amorphous. Conclusions: Some positive difference is seen in the attitudes towards psychiatry by sixth-year students, especially for psychiatric consultation and hospitals. However, community held attitudes towards psychiatry and psychiatric treatments hazards are not changed by the teaching experience.