Positive attitudes towards psychiatry among Chinese medical students

Mediating effects of stigma on the relationship between contact and willingness to care for people with mental illness among nursing students

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have demonstrated that contact positively impacts nursing students' willingness to care for people with mental illness. However, studies that have explored the mechanism of such a relationship between contact and willingness remain few.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the direct relationship between contact and nursing students' willingness to care for people with mental illness and to explore the potential mediating roles of stigma.

DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study design.

SETTINGS

The study was conducted in a nursing school in Nanjing city, China.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 839 nursing students were recruited in the study through convenience sampling.

METHODS

Nursing students' stigma, contact, and willingness to care for people with mental illness were measured online through the Stigma toward People with Mental Illness Scale (SPMI), the Level of Contact Report, and one item of "which degree indicates your willingness to provide care for people with mental illness," respectively. The structural equation model was applied to explore the potential mediating roles of stigma.

RESULTS

Contact with people suffering from mental illness directly affected nursing students' willingness to care for them (β = 0.076, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, stigma partly mediated the effect of students' contact on willingness to care for people with mental illness (β = 0.048, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

High level of contact can improve nursing students' willingness to care and the relationship is partly mediated by stigma. Measures to improve the level of contact and reduce stigmatizing attitudes of nursing students are accordingly essential in influencing them to have more willingness to care for people with mental illness.

Psychiatric-mental health education with integrated role-play and real-world contact can reduce the stigma of nursing students towards people with mental illness

Stigma and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness are frequently found among nursing students. Interventions targeting mental illness stigma are the critical elements in altering the status. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of the psychiatric-mental health education with role-play and real-world contact on stigma of nursing students towards people with mental illness in China. A single group pretest and posttest study design was adopted and total 373 students were recruited whilst 343 completed the course. We integrated the role-play and contact with patients in the routine psychiatric-mental health education. After the education was completed, the students' stigma towards people with mental illness were positively changed (pretest mean score of stigma: 53.77, posttest mean score of stigma: 49.01, 95% CI: 2.63-6.87) and their willingness to care for the people with mental illness was also significantly increased (pretest mean score of willingness: 5.45, posttest mean score of willingness: 7.38, 95% CI: -2.22--1.65). The psychiatric-mental health education especially with integrated role-play and real-world contact is an effective way to reduce nursing students' stigma and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness and increases their willingness to care for people with mental illness.

Enrichment activities in the medical school psychiatry programme - could this be a key to engaging medical students in psychiatry? A study from a high secure forensic psychiatric UK hospital

BACKGROUND

The majority of research studies on medical student attitudes toward psychiatry focus on influencing factors and the medical school experience. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a one-day visit to a high secure forensic psychiatric unit on medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry and also assesses career intentions and the factors influencing these.

METHOD

Change in attitudes and career intention were measured by administering a questionnaire, which included the 30-item Attitudes Toward Psychiatry (ATP-30) survey, at the start (time 1) and end (time 2) of the one-day visit. Qualitative data on factors influencing career choice was also gathered.

RESULTS

Evaluation of 284 responses revealed a significant increase in positive attitude towards psychiatry from time 1 to time 2 in the sample as a whole. The most influential factor on consideration of psychiatry as a career across all groups was the medical school clinical placement. For those that tended away from choosing psychiatry as a career, patient prognosis was important.

CONCLUSIONS

Poor recruitment in psychiatry in the UK is already established which will doubtless be compounded by controversies surrounding the proposed new junior doctors' contract. Now more than ever, the need to inspire and motivate those at medical school encountering psychiatry is crucial. Our findings add to the body of evidence that the medical school clinical attachment is fundamental in shaping attitudes. However, these results also show that a well-planned visit to a specialised psychiatric unit outside of traditional placements can have a significant impact on students' attitudes toward psychiatry and mental illness in general. There is limited literature in the UK on enrichment activities within the psychiatry medical school curriculum. We propose that developing opportunities for enrichment activities within psychiatry could increase the scope of how we engage students in this fascinating field of medicine.

What can the medical education do for eliminating stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness among future doctors? effect of clerkship training on chinese students' attitudes

OBJECTIVE

The study was to examine the changes in attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness among Chinese medical students during their psychiatry clerkship training.

METHODS

The Attitudes Towards Mental Illness (AMI) and the Attitudes Towards Psychiatry-30 (ATP-30) questionnaires were administered to 325 fourth-year Chinese medical students before and after they completed an 8-week psychiatry clerkship training.

RESULTS

After the clerkship training, there was a significant improvement in attitudes towards psychiatry and mental health as reflected by the total scores on ATP-30 (103.4 ± 8.6 versus 111.8 ± 9.6, p < 0.001) and AMI (58.9 ± 6.3 versus 64.1 ± 6.6, p < 0.001). The proportions of students who showed positive attitudes to psychiatry and mental illness were significantly increased on most of the items on ATP-30 and AMI after rotation (p's = 0.027). Although there was a significant change after training, the percentage of the students who would consider psychiatry as their future medical specialty was still on a low level (6.5% versus 11.4%, before versus after rotation, p = 0.028).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of our study suggested that psychiatry clerkship training may improve medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry and mental illness, but its influence on medical students' consideration to choose psychiatry as a future medical career is limited. The students who did not consider psychiatry as a future career held less positive attitudes to psychiatrists, psychiatric patients and the treatment.

Attitudes toward neurosciences in medical students in Wuhan, China: a survey study

BACKGROUND

Neurophobia is a well-described phenomenon among medical students in many countries. Little is reported concerning the perceptions of neurosciences among medical students in China.

METHODS

We surveyed senior medical students in Wuhan, China, on their perceptions of neuroscience.

RESULTS

Students' self-assessments of knowledge in various specialties ranked neurology low, but not the lowest. Students' confidence in diagnosing neurological patients and managing neurological patients demonstrated significant correlation. A positive correlation was noted between confidence in these clinical parameters and the likelihood of specializing in neurology. Students reported bedside teaching and small group sessions as having the greatest value in learning neurology.

CONCLUSIONS

The low, but not the lowest ranking of self-perceived knowledge in neurology by medical students in Wuhan, China, differs from findings reported in other countries. In this exploratory study the investigators hypothesize that the well-described phenomenon of neurophobia may exhibit a less pronounced influence in Wuhan, China.