title: A brief report on perceptions of alcohol and society among Scottish medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess perceptions on alcohol misuse and addiction among medical students prior to in-depth training in order to determine areas of the curriculum that need to be reshaped or focused on.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire assessment of first- and second-year medical students' perceptions of alcohol misuse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Students had some misconceptions about current alcohol misuse rates, including a perception that addiction is common among health professionals, that the under-25s had the fastest increasing rate of alcohol addiction and that British women had a more rapidly increasing rate of alcohol addiction than British men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Encouragingly, students overwhelmingly felt that alcohol addiction was something to which they could make a difference. It highlights that early education about alcohol misuse is important in terms of teaching students how to recognize hazardous and harmful drinkers and how to manage them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steed
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groome
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ker
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058028:Research Report; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012938:Social Perception; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires