Impact of medical school training on students' attitudes about psychiatry

U Hrvatskoj su psihijatrijski poremećaji vodeća grupa poremećaja prema danima bolničkog liječenja, a po broju hospitalizacija u radno aktivnoj dobi su na drugom mjestu. Unatoč tome, psihijatrija je kod nas, kao i u svijetu, jedna od najmanje privlačnih specijalnosti za studente medicine. U radu smo istražili utjecaj obvezne edukacije iz psihijatrije na stavove studenata medicine 4. godine Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Testirali smo stavove prema psihijatriji i traženju stručne psihološke pomoći pomoću upitnika koji su se ispunjavali u dva navrata, na početku turnusa iz psihijatrije te na kraju turnusa iz psihijatrije. Upitnike je ispunilo 190 studenata (stopa odgovora 79,8%). Nakon odslušanog turnusa iz psihijatrije studenti su imali statistički značajno pozitivnije stavove o psihijatriji, kao i stavove o traženju stručne psihološke pomoći. Odabir psihijatrije kao buduće profesije statistički je značajno korelirao sa pozitivnim stavom prema psihijatriji i traženju stručne psihološke pomoći. Između svih aspekata procjene kvalitete psihijatrijske edukacije i stava prema psihijatriji utvrđena je statistički značajna pozitivna korelacija. Temeljem naših rezultata, smatramo da bi se trebali ponuditi dodatni oblici nastave iz psihijatrije kako bi se održao i povećao opaženi pozitivan utjecaj edukacije na stavove studenata.In Croatia, psychiatric disorders are the leading group of disorders by days of hospitalization and they are in second place according to the number of hospitalizations in the period of working age. Nevertheless, psychiatry in Croatia, as well as in the world, is one of the least attractive specialty for medical students. In this paper we determined the impact of compulsory education in psychiatry on the attitudes of medical students of the fourth year of the Medical Faculty of the University of Zagreb. We tested attitudes toward psychiatry and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help using questionnaires that were filled out twice, at the beginning of psychiatry placement and at the end of psychiatry placement. Questionnaires were completed by 190 students (response rate 79.8 %). After the placement, students had significantly more positive attitudes about psychiatry, as well as the attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Choosing psychiatry as a future profession was statistically significantly correlated with a positive attitude toward psychiatry and seeking professional psychological help. Significant positive correlation was found between attitudes about psychiatry and assessment of quality of all aspects of the psychiatric education. Based on our results, we believe that additional forms of education in psychiatry should be offered, in order to maintain and increase the perceived positive impact of education on students’ attitudes