Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24141/1/7/1/5
Attitudes of physiotherapy students towards psychiatric patients
Ema Zeman
orcid.org/0000-0002-6069-6359
; University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Olivera Petrak
; University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
During our lifetime we encounter a multitude of stereotypes about different groups of people, but rarely is a group so marked by prejudice as people suffering from psychiatric illnesses. Although there are positive changes in the perception of psychiatric patients over time, these changes are very slow, and research shows that health professionals are not deprived of prejudice either. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the attitudes of physiotherapy students towards psychiatric patients. The scale of attitudes was compiled for the purposes of this study by compiling and adapting items from several instruments, and it contained a total of 39 items. Principal component analysis identified a one-factor structure for 33 items with 27.3% variance explained. The survey was conducted online on 135 physiotherapy students from all three years of study, of which 81.5% were female and 17.8% male. The average age of the respondents was 28.7 years.
The obtained results indicate slightly positive attitudes towards psychiatric patients. The most negative attitudes were expressed through the aspect of extra caution, insecurity and mistrust in communicating with them. There is no significant difference in total score between men and women, full-time and part-time students or between the different years of study. For seven items females have more positive attitudes than male population, but they tend to be more afraid of psychiatric patients. Part-time students have more professional experience with psychiatric patients, while full-time students show more positive attitudes on three items about communication and psychiatric patients’ rights. Despite the relatively positive picture, there is certainly room for improvement, in the form of enhanced education and more contact with psychiatric patients.
Keywords
psychiatric disorders; attitudes; physiotherapy
Hrčak ID:
251472
URI
Publication date:
3.2.2021.
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