title: [Perception of Psychiatry among Undergraduate Students of a School of Medicine].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Learn about perceptions and beliefs regarding psychiatry among undergraduate medicine students and compare their conceptions and appreciations concerning positive and negative aspects, before and after specific training in psychiatry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational, cross-sectional study; qualitative and quantitative research with application of a survey for undergraduate medicine students of the Universidad de La Sabana, before and after a specific psychiatry course. 90 students answered the survey in two groups: one of them before the course, and the other one afterwards;
  
  
  RESULTS
  52,2% corresponded to semesters prior to the course of psychiatry; 25.5% expressed the purpose to specialize in Psychiatry before the course, and such percentage decreased to 13.4% after the course. Association was found between the purpose of not specializing in Psychiatry with the fact of having taken said course (Fisher's exact test, p=0,042). Most students would not specialize in psychiatry because they are interested in other areas. Before the course, students made emphasis on the biological aspects of mental disease. After the course, they also directed their attention to other factors. The two groups believe that the management of these patients is mainly pharmacological. The incurable character of mental illness was also highlighted together with the risk of getting ill and the stigma it entails.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychiatry is perceived as a medical specialization with emphasis on pharmacological treatment. There is a low frequency of students interested in this area. The course of psychiatry is associated with reduction of this frequency and limits the variability of the psychiatric concept.
authors.affiliation: Especialista en bioética. Jefe, Área de Salud Mental, y profesor asistente, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia. Electronic address: yahira.guzman@unisabana.edu.co.
authors.forename: Yahira Rossini Guzmán
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Sabogal
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psiquiatría, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Ricardo Sánchez
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Pedraza
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Docente clínico asistencial, Clínica de la Universidad de La Sabana. Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
authors.forename: Jorge Rodríguez-Losada
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Allende
keywords: Psiquiatría; Psychiatry; educación de pregrado en medicina; education, medical, undergraduate; higher education institutions; instituciones de enseñanza superior