Assessment of knowledge and beliefs concerning mental disorders among medical students - preliminary report

The aim of the study was to assess attitudes towards people with mental disorders.

The survey was carried out in a group of 93 students of the fifth year of medical studies (medical faculty) including 59 women and 34 men, aged 24.34 ± 1.28 years.

In the conducted research, personal contact with a psychiatrist due to problems with their own mental health was declared by 23% of respondents. The choice of psychiatry as a field of specialization was declared by 19% of students. In the analysis of the questionnaire on beliefs, as many as 83% of respondents considered that mental illness is a cause for shame. Analyzing the attitude of the respondents to treatment, it was shown that as many as 80% of people believed that compulsory hospitalization is a right procedure. It should be emphasized that only 31% of the surveyed students believed that people with mental disorders should decide to have offspring, and 36% of people thought that mentally disturbed people would not be good as parents. As many as 30% of respondents believed that people with mental disorders more often commit crimes than healthy people, and 42% of students showed a lack of determination in this aspect.

The results of the research suggest the necessity of expanding knowledge and shaping appropriate attitudes towards people with mental disorders among future doctors.