Medical students and interns’ attitude towards psychiatry as a postgraduate program in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Considering the intricate reasons behind a student's choice of specialty, understanding these factors may help improve strategies used to recruit and direct students to psychiatry. Therefore, this study aims to examine the attitude of medical students towards psychiatry as a profession and its associated predictors. A cross-sectional online survey study was conducted in Saudi Arabia June 2023 and July 2024. This study utilized previously developed questionnaire tool, attitude towards psychiatry-30 scale by Burra et al. The attitude towards psychiatry-30 scale is a 30-item questionnaire for measuring the attitudes of medical. The predictors of having positive attitude towards psychiatry were identified using logistic regression. A total of 431 students participated in this study. The mean attitude score for the study participants was 94.0 (standard deviation: 10.7), out of 150 (equal to 62.7%), which reflects moderate attitude towards psychiatry as medical profession. The most commonly agreed upon statements were that "Psychiatric illness deserves at least as much attention as physical illness" and "It is interesting to try to unravel the cause of a psychiatric illness" with a mean score of 4.2 (1.1) and 4.2 (1.0), respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis identified that medical students' sociodemographic characteristics did not affect their attitude towards psychiatry as medical profession (P > .05). The attitude of medical students in Saudi Arabia towards psychiatry as a medical profession was moderately positive. Policymakers need to work on the optimum inclusion of psychiatry in the curriculum, exposure to psychiatric rotations, and mentorship opportunities with practicing psychiatrists. Future research needs to develop targeted interventions to enhance positive attitudes and probably convince more students to consider psychiatry as a preferred choice.