Attitudes of Medical Students to Psychiatry at a Nigerian Medical School

Abstract

Objective: To report attitudes to psychiatry before and after their psychiatric posting, among final-year medical students of a Nigerian University using the 30-item Attitude To Psychiatry questionnaire. Participants and Methods: A total of 126 students participated pre-clerkship, while 135 students participated in the post-clerkship phase of the study. Results: Approximately 54% of the students scored above the Attitude To Psychiatry questionnaire midpoint (90) at the pre-clerkship assessment, while 41% of the students scored higher than 90 at the post-clerkship phase. The mean (± standard deviation) score also decreased significantly (p = 0.03) from 90.6 (± 9.4) pre-posting to 88.2 (± 8.2) at the end. Facets that showed appreciable decline were those that evaluated the teaching of the subject, symptom worry being made worse by treatment, and perceived job satisfaction of psychiatrists by the students. Conclusion: The general attitude to psychiatry of this group of medical students witnessed an unfavourable trend after psychiatric exposure. Some of the areas that need to be improved upon undergraduate teaching in psychiatry.