title: Attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry in a Chilean medical school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors assess the attitudes of seventh-year medical students with regard to psychiatry and patients with psychiatric illness during the psychiatry clerkship.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 32-item questionnaire regarding attitudes toward psychiatry and patients with psychiatric illness was administered at the beginning of the psychiatry clerkship.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and ten seventh-year students participated in the study, providing responses anonymously. Average negative attitude item score was 2.45 ± 0.3 (range 1.7-3.3). Eighty-three students (75 %) responded to all the questions with an average negative attitude item score of 2.43 ± 0.3 (range 1.7-3.3) and a total negative attitude item score of 77.9 ± 10.3 (range 55-104).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Undergraduate students of a Chilean medical school showed fairly positive attitudes toward psychiatry and toward patients with psychiatric illness.
authors.affiliation: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Medicine, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile, sergioavaldivieso@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Valdivieso
authors.forename: Marisol
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sirhan
authors.forename: Constanza
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ivelic
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aillach
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Villarroel
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002677:Chile; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011570:Psychiatry; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires