Change of medical student attitudes toward psychiatry: the impact of the psychiatric clerkship.

Unlabelled: Psychiatry - as a profession - is getting less and less popular among medical students resulting in a dramatic decrease in number of those choosing this field as a future career.

Aims: This study set out to investigate how undergraduate psychiatric training influenced the attitudes toward psychiatry and the career choices of fifth-year Hungarian medical students.

Methods: Students' attitudes toward psychiatry were measured by the ATP-30 and their preference for a career in medicine was also inquired about.

Results: The mean total ATP-30 score of the 71 participants only moderately increased (109.28 +/- 11.82 vs. 111.08 +/- 11.94; p=0.186). However, in some respects participants' views about psychiatry and psychiatric patients turned significantly positive, and a few misconceptions abated. Yet, the mean score on the item "I would like to be a psychiatrist" dropped significantly (1.94 +/- 0.89 vs. 1.68 +/- 0.79; p=0.023).

Conclusion: The mean ATP-30 scores indicate that the attitude of Hungarian medical students toward psychiatry is rather positive compared to students from other countries. Our findings suggest that undergraduate exposure to psychiatry does not have a major impact on student attitudes toward the profession; in fact, psychiatry became less attractive following the clinical clerkship. On the whole, the number of students willing to enter the psychiatric workforce is critically low in relation to the growing demand in Hungary.