OBJECTIVE: To investigate the attitudes of Danish medical students as to the attractiveness of psychiatry as a career possibility and to asses the impact on such attitudes of actual contact with psychiatry. METHOD: A base-line survey included 222 senior medical students, of whom 160 were also surveyed subsequent to a 4-week psychiatric affiliation. RESULTS: The base-line survey shows that psychiatry is rated as less attractive than other specialization groups, and that working as health assistants in psychiatric wards contributes to the problematic image. However, a 4-week psychiatric affiliation resolves a number of image issues, and following such an affiliation more medical students were considering specializing in psychiatry. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that psychiatric affiliations can influence students' attitudes to psychiatry. The observed changes in attitudes lead to the presumption that some aspects of the image problem of psychiatry stem from inadequate knowledge of psychiatry as a specialty and the actual work psychiatrists perform.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the attitudes of Danish medical students as to the attractiveness of psychiatry as a career possibility and to asses the impact on such attitudes of actual contact with psychiatry. METHOD: A base-line survey included 222 senior medical students, of whom 160 were also surveyed subsequent to a 4-week psychiatric affiliation. RESULTS: The base-line survey shows that psychiatry is rated as less attractive than other specialization groups, and that working as health assistants in psychiatric wards contributes to the problematic image. However, a 4-week psychiatric affiliation resolves a number of image issues, and following such an affiliation more medical students were considering specializing in psychiatry. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that psychiatric affiliations can influence students' attitudes to psychiatry. The observed changes in attitudes lead to the presumption that some aspects of the image problem of psychiatry stem from inadequate knowledge of psychiatry as a specialty and the actual work psychiatrists perform.
Authors: Norman Sartorius; Wolfgang Gaebel; Helen-Rose Cleveland; Heather Stuart; Tsuyoshi Akiyama; Julio Arboleda-Flórez; Anja E Baumann; Oye Gureje; Miguel R Jorge; Marianne Kastrup; Yuriko Suzuki; Allan Tasman Journal: World Psychiatry Date: 2010-10 Impact factor: 49.548
Authors: Wolfgang Gaebel; Harald Zäske; Jürgen Zielasek; Helen-Rose Cleveland; Kathrin Samjeske; Heather Stuart; Julio Arboleda-Florez; Tsuyoshi Akiyama; Anja E Baumann; Oye Gureje; Miguel R Jorge; Marianne Kastrup; Yuriko Suzuki; Allan Tasman; Thiago M Fidalgo; Marek Jarema; Sarah B Johnson; Lola Kola; Dzmytry Krupchanka; Veronica Larach; Lyndy Matthews; Graham Mellsop; David M Ndetei; Tarek A Okasha; Ekaterina Padalko; Joyce A Spurgeoun; Magdalena Tyszkowska; Norman Sartorius Journal: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Date: 2014-09-05 Impact factor: 5.270