Effect of Psychiatry Internship on Schizophrenia Attitudes and Knowledge and its Relationship With Interpersonal Reactivity

The attitudes and knowledge of medical students about psychotic disorders may change throughout their psychiatry training, but the literature presents inconsistent findings.This study aimed to evaluate the attitudes and knowledge of 6 th -year medical students toward psychotic disorders before and after a psychiatry internship and examine the associations between these changes and the students' interpersonal reactivity and sociodemographic characteristics.The Attitudes toward Schizophrenia Questionnaire (ASQ) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) were administered to participants before the internship.The ASQ was re-administered after the internship.A total of 498 medical students from 6 th year participated in this study.There was no significant difference in the overall ASQ scores applied to the participants before and after the psychiatry internship.A significant relationship was observed between the change in the ASQ remedy-seeking subscale and the IRI personal distress subscale, the ASQ treatment subscale and the IRI personal distress subscale, and the ASQ community-life subscale and the IRI perspective-taking subscale.The findings suggest that although the psychiatry internship alone may not lead to a significant overall change in students' attitudes, its impact may be observed in relation to specific aspects of interpersonal reactivity.This underlines that internships may have a limited impact on the attitudes of students unless they are supported by adequate empathy and interpersonal skills.The results highlight the importance of empathizing with and addressing personal distress in medical education programs.