TY - JOUR
T1 - Why medical students choose psychiatry - A 20 country cross-sectional survey
AU - ISOSCCIP Group
AU - Farooq, Kitty
AU - Lydall, Gregory J.
AU - Malik, Amit
AU - Ndetei, David M.
AU - Bhugra, Dinesh
AU - Alemu, Yonas Baheretibeb
AU - Ohene, Sammy
AU - Mathai, Muthoni
AU - Gakinya, Benson
AU - Uwakwa, Richard
AU - Olugbile, Femi
AU - Hauli, Kiyeti
AU - Mugaza, Joyce
AU - Kilonzo, Gad
AU - Musisi, Seggane
AU - Maling, Samuel
AU - Ravi, Paul
AU - Fernandes, Rubens Luis Folchini
AU - Nogueira-Martins, Luiz Antonio
AU - Mari, Jair de Jesus
AU - Baldassin, Sergio
AU - da Silva, Nilson Rodrigues
AU - Saperson, Karen
AU - Rojnic Kuzman, Martina
AU - Lovrec, Petra
AU - Smoljan, Mia
AU - Vicente, Benjamin
AU - Rosel, Leonardo
AU - Nawka, Alexander
AU - Nawkova, Lucie
AU - Dvoracek, Boris
AU - Andlauer, Olivier
AU - Haffen, Emmanuel
AU - Sechter, Daniel
AU - Guicherd, William
AU - Bonin, Bernard
AU - Tatjana Calliess, Iris
AU - Fischer, Volkhard
AU - Mittelstädt, Anke
AU - Wong, Vanessa
AU - Sharma, P. S.V.N.
AU - Deora, Sumit
AU - Udupa, Suma
AU - Yasiri, A. Rasoul
AU - Al-Chalabi, Basil
AU - Al-Hamzawi, Ali
AU - Ali, Sirwan
AU - Al-Sabbagh, Akeel
AU - Dahan, Eyal
AU - Schlossberg, Karin
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was funded in part by a World Psychiatric Association (WPA) grant to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The WPA had no influence on study design or in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. The researchers confirm their independence from the funders at the time of writing. All authors had full access to all of the data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study and can take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The data has been presented to the WPA Board and recommendations made from the findings.
PY - 2014/1/15
Y1 - 2014/1/15
N2 - Background: Recruitment to psychiatry is insufficient to meet projected mental health service needs world-wide. We report on the career plans of final year medical students from 20 countries, investigating factors identified from the literature which influence psychiatric career choice. Methods. Cross sectional electronic or paper survey. Subjects were final year medical students at 46 medical schools in participating countries. We assessed students' career intentions, motivations, medical school teaching and exposure to psychiatry. We assessed students' attitudes and personality factors. The main outcome measure was likelihood of specializing in psychiatry. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the joint effect of factors upon the main outcome. Results: 2198 of 9135 (24%) of students responded (range 4 to 91%) across the countries. Internationally 4.5% of students definitely considered psychiatry as a career (range 1 to 12%). 19% of students (range 0 to 33%) were "quite likely", and 25% were "definitely not" considering psychiatry. Female gender, experience of mental/physical illness, media portrayal of doctors, and positive attitudes to psychiatry, but not personality factors, were associated with choosing psychiatry. Quality of psychiatric placement (correlation coefficient = 0.22, p < 0.001) and number of placements (correlation coefficient =0.21, p < 0.001) were associated with higher ATP scores. During medical school, experience of psychiatric enrichment activities (special studies modules and university psychiatry clubs), experience of acutely unwell patients and perceived clinical responsibility were all associated with choice of psychiatry. Multilevel logistic regression revealed six factors associated with students choosing psychiatry: importance of own vocation, odds ratio (OR) 3.01, 95% CI 1.61 to 5.91, p < 0.001); interest in psychiatry before medical school, OR 10.8 (5.38 to 21.8, p < 0.001); undertaking a psychiatry special study module, OR 1.45 (1.05 to 2.01, p = 0.03) or elective OR 4.28 (2.87- 6.38, p < 0.001); membership of a university psychiatry club, OR 3.25 (2.87 to 6.38, p < 0.001); and exposure to didactic teaching, OR 0.54 (0.40 to 0.72, p < 0.001). Conclusions: We report factors relevant to medical student selection and psychiatry teaching which affect career choice. Addressing these factors may improve recruitment to psychiatry internationally.
AB - Background: Recruitment to psychiatry is insufficient to meet projected mental health service needs world-wide. We report on the career plans of final year medical students from 20 countries, investigating factors identified from the literature which influence psychiatric career choice. Methods. Cross sectional electronic or paper survey. Subjects were final year medical students at 46 medical schools in participating countries. We assessed students' career intentions, motivations, medical school teaching and exposure to psychiatry. We assessed students' attitudes and personality factors. The main outcome measure was likelihood of specializing in psychiatry. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine the joint effect of factors upon the main outcome. Results: 2198 of 9135 (24%) of students responded (range 4 to 91%) across the countries. Internationally 4.5% of students definitely considered psychiatry as a career (range 1 to 12%). 19% of students (range 0 to 33%) were "quite likely", and 25% were "definitely not" considering psychiatry. Female gender, experience of mental/physical illness, media portrayal of doctors, and positive attitudes to psychiatry, but not personality factors, were associated with choosing psychiatry. Quality of psychiatric placement (correlation coefficient = 0.22, p < 0.001) and number of placements (correlation coefficient =0.21, p < 0.001) were associated with higher ATP scores. During medical school, experience of psychiatric enrichment activities (special studies modules and university psychiatry clubs), experience of acutely unwell patients and perceived clinical responsibility were all associated with choice of psychiatry. Multilevel logistic regression revealed six factors associated with students choosing psychiatry: importance of own vocation, odds ratio (OR) 3.01, 95% CI 1.61 to 5.91, p < 0.001); interest in psychiatry before medical school, OR 10.8 (5.38 to 21.8, p < 0.001); undertaking a psychiatry special study module, OR 1.45 (1.05 to 2.01, p = 0.03) or elective OR 4.28 (2.87- 6.38, p < 0.001); membership of a university psychiatry club, OR 3.25 (2.87 to 6.38, p < 0.001); and exposure to didactic teaching, OR 0.54 (0.40 to 0.72, p < 0.001). Conclusions: We report factors relevant to medical student selection and psychiatry teaching which affect career choice. Addressing these factors may improve recruitment to psychiatry internationally.
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U2 - 10.1186/1472-6920-14-12
DO - 10.1186/1472-6920-14-12
M3 - Article
C2 - 24422951
AN - SCOPUS:84897977083
SN - 1472-6920
VL - 14
JO - BMC Medical Education
JF - BMC Medical Education
IS - 1
M1 - 12
ER -