Medical Students’ Attitudes towards Profession of Psychiatry- A Cross-Sectional Survey from Medical Colleges of Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Objectives: To Evaluate Students’ Attitudes Towards the Profession of Psychiatry. Study Design And Setting: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, Hamdard College of Medicine and Dentistry, Hamdard University, Karachi, Pakistan, from March 2020 to August 2020. All undergraduate students of different medical colleges and universities in Sindh were included in the study Methodology: A total of 512 undergraduate students were registered in the study. Multiple email invitations with links to Google Forms were sent to all undergraduate participants. The study comprised 2 sections: (1) The Demographics Questionnaire and (2) Mental Illness Clinicians Attitude Scale (MICA), version-2 specific for medical students, a self administered scale, requiring about 5 minutes to complete it. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 20. Results: Out of 512 medical students surveyed from various medical colleges in the Sindh province of Pakistan, 279(54.5%) were male and 233(45.5%) were female. According to the survey, 65% of students learn psychiatry because it is in exams. Dow University of Health Sciences students had the lowest MICA score (41.06), indicating a positive attitude. whereas students from Hamdard College of Medicine & Dentistry had the highest MICA score (57.12), indicating a negative stigmatizing attitude. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that undergraduates have a negative attitude toward mental health. In Pakistan, the subject of psychiatry is not tested as an individual subject, so students pay little attention. It is necessary that this subject be examined separately like medicine and surgery.