Impact of clinical posting in psychiatry on the attitude of medical students of GMC Jammu towards mental illness and psychiatry

Background: Undergraduate’s attitude towards psychaitric patient is very crucial to maintain the treatment gap due to mental illness. Psychiatry is still the neglected subject and there is a huge deficit of psychiatrists and mental health professionals particularly in J&K . Aims & objectives: To compare medical student’s and intern’s attitude towards mental illness and psychiatry and to assess the impact of psychiatric training on attitude of students towards the mental illness. Methodology: This longitudinal study was conducted for a period of six months among Phase II MBBS, Phase III part I MBBS students and interns of Government Medical College Hospital Jammu. The participating students were assessed by using the Questionnaires – 1. Attitude Towards Psychiatry -30 (ATP-30) scale and 2. Mental Illness Clinician’s Attitude (MICA) scale. The statistical test was done using SPSS version (20.0) . A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Most of questions in ATP-30 scale showed significant improvement in post clinical postings with a statistically significant p-value less than 0.05. While few questions on MICA scale showed improvement. After the clinical posting, 15 (13.6%) of students opted psychiatry as a speciality, which is not statistically significant. Conclusion: The positive attitude of the students towards psychiatric patients would help in reducing the stigma attached to people with mental illness and mental health professionals.