Attitude of medical students towards psychiatry in NWFP.

Background: Worldwide literature shows negative attitude of medical students towards psychiatry, which determines future of this subject. Some work has been conducted in two provinces (Sindh and Punjab) of Pakistan in this regard. The Objective of this cross sectional study was conducted to find out the attitude of medical students in NWFP towards psychiatry. The survey was conducted at two different days of the month of July on final year students of two recognized medical colleges of NWFP.

Method: The sample consisted of 281 subjects of which 165 (58.3%) were males and 116 (41%) were females. Five Point Attitude scale (ATP 30) was used to assess the attitude. The data collected was labelled and analyzed with the help of SPSS version 10.

Results: There were total 30 items in the questionnaire of attitude study. Both male and female students showed positive attitude towards most of the items except few, towards which the attitude of the students was neutral. The results seem consistent with the local literature.

Conclusions: Over all attitudes of medical students was positive. However, attitude of female students towards some of the items were more positive as compared to their male counterparts.