Original scientific paper
MEDICAL EDUCATION CHANGES STUDENTS' ATTITUDES ON PSYCHIATRY: SURVEY AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN CROATIA
Ana Medic Flajsman
; Zagreb Region Primary Health Care Center, Zagreb, Croatia
Dunja Degmecic
; Faculty of Medicine Osijek, University J.J. Strossmayer Osijek, Croatia; University Hospital Centre Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Tamara Pranjkovic
; Istra Primary Health Care Center, Pula, Croatia
Stanislav Rogulja
; General Hospital, Vukovar, Croatia
Dina Bošnjak
; University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapce, Zagreb, Croatia
Martina Rojnic Kuzman
; University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; Zagreb School of medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In Croatia, psychiatric disorders are the leading group of disorders by days of hospitalization and they are in second place
according to the number of hospitalizations in the period of working age. Nevertheless, psychiatry in Croatia, as well as in the world, is one of the least attractive specialties for medical students. In this paper we determined the impact of compulsory education in psychiatry on the attitudes of medical students of the fourth year of the Zagreb school of medicine and Osijek school of medicine. We tested attitudes toward psychiatry, psychiatric treatment and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help using questionnaires that were filled out twice, at the beginning of psychiatry placement and at the end of psychiatry placement. Questionnaires were completed by 239 students from the Zagreb school of medicine and Faculty of medicine Osijek (response rate 78.4%). After the placement, students had significantly more positive attitudes about psychiatry and psychiatric treatment, as well as the attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Attitudes towards psychiatry, seeking psychological help and attitude towards psychiatric medication and psychotherapy correlated with the evaluation of the quality of psychiatric education. Additional forms of education in psychiatry should be offered, in order to maintain and increase the impact of education on students’ attitudes.
Keywords
medical education; students; attitudes; psychiatry; psychiatric treatment
Hrčak ID:
263981
URI
Publication date:
13.9.2017.
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