[The psychiatric semester and recruitment of future psychiatrists]

Before and after the psychiatric course, students from three successive year classes received a questionnaire. Of 102 subjects, 75% responded before and 82% after the course to the question: "Would you like to be a psychiatrist? (1 = definitely not--8 = very much). 11% chose one of the alternatives 6-8 before the course, and 24% after. No differences were noted between the three classes prior to the course. After the course, the students were asked to rate the total profit of the course on a 8-point scale from 1 (no gain) to 8 (very much gain). The class with the highest mean for total profit also had the highest mean for motivation for becoming a psychiatrist. The class with the lowest mean for profit had the lowest mean for psychiatry. Among the former, 38% selected one of the alternatives 6-8 regarding preference for psychiatry. Among the latter the corresponding frequency was 16%. Every class consisted of two groups. In the group with most gain from the course (6-8 on the scale), 48% would like to become a psychiatrist (6-8 on the scale). In the group with the lowest profit, the frequency was 6%.