[Does medical education influence the attitudes of medical students towards individuals with mental health problems?].
OBJECTIVE
This survey aimed to investigate the effect of medical education on the attitudes of students towards individuals with mental health problems.


METHODS
The first phase of the survey was conducted in 2002 with first-year medical students (n=168) and the second phase was carried out in 2007 (n=202) with sixth-year medical students. The questionnaire we used collected the students' sociodemographic data and their responses to propositions that reflected their attitudes towards individuals with mental health problems. A composite attitude index was developed based on the questions and propositions. The chi-square test and variance analysis were used to analyze the data.


RESULTS
Mean age of the first-and last-year students was 18.25 +/- 0.88 and 23.46 +/- 0.85 years, respectively. The percentage of students that had mental health problem or had a family member with mental health problem increased when they were sixth-year students (first year: 4.2% and 14.3%, p=0.187, and 7.4% and 27.7%, p=0.002, respectively). Among the first-year students, "nervousness" was the most common feeling towards people with mental health problems, versus "pity" among the sixth-year students. Compared to the first phase of the study, the frequency of the opinion, "a person with a mental health problem must be cared for by their family", was higher during the second phase (from 49.4% to 64.9%, p=0.003). The percentage of sixth-year students that thought people with mental health problems can adapt to social life was lower than that of first-year students (94.6%, and 88.6%, respectively, p=0.040). When the students became sixth-year students they developed more positive attitudes, such as "to abstain to talk"(p=0.015), and "to share a room" (p=0.008), and more negative attitudes towards "marrying an individual that had a family member with a mental health problem" (p=0.007) compared to when they were first-year students. According to the year of education, there wasn't a significant difference between the mean composite attitude index score (p=0.940).


CONCLUSIONS
We recommended the use of new training methods to develop positive attitudes among medical students towards individuals with mental health problems.
Paksoy Erbaydar
Nüket
N
Hacettepe U Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Ankara. erbaydar@hacettepe.edu.tr
Cilingiroğlu
Nesrin
N
D000293:Adolescent; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004501:Education, Medical; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008603:Mental Health; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult