Impact of clinical posting in psychiatry on the attitude of medical students of GMC Jammu towards mental illness and psychiatry

impact of clinical posting in psychiatry on medical students

Abstract

Attitude of fresh graduates towards psychaitric patient is important to bridge the treatment gap due to mental illness. Psychiatry as a subject is  neglected in the undergraduates of MBBS and there is a huge deficit of psychiatrists and mental health professionals in India and J&K in particular. Aims and Objectives:To compare the attitude of medical students and interns towards mental illness and psychiatry and to assess the impact of psychiatric training on attitude of students towards the mental illness. Methodology: This longitudinal study was conducted for a period of six months among Phase II MBBS, Phase III part I MBBS students and interns of Government Medical College Hospital Jammu,who attended psychiatry posting during the study period. The participants were assessed using a proforma containing demographic details and the questionnaires – Attitude Towards Psychiatry -30 (ATP-30) scale and Mental Illness Clinician’s Attitude (MICA) scale. The statistical test was done using spss version (20.0) info. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Answers to most of questions in ATP-30 scale showed significant improvement in post clinical postings with a statistically significant p-value less than 0.05. While few of questions on MICA scale showed some improvement. Before clinical posting in psychiatry only 8 (7.2%) opted psychiatry as branch for speciality whereas after the clinical posting, 15 (13.6%) of students opted psychiatry as a speciality, which is not statistically significant.Conclusion: The positive attitude of the students towards psychiatric patients would help in reducing the stigma attached to people with mental illness and mental health professionals. But, there is need to encourage students to pursue career in psychiatry to overcome the shortage of psychiatrists.