SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.41 suppl.1Transgressive Conducts in the Academic EnvironmentThe Purpose of Medical Education: Proposal to Standardize a System of Credits for Medical Specializations Programs author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Revista Colombiana de Psiquiatría

Print version ISSN 0034-7450

Abstract

GUZMAN SABOGAL, Yahira Rossini; SANCHEZ PEDRAZA, Ricardo  and  RODRIGUEZ-LOSADA ALLENDE, Jorge. Perception of Psychiatry among Undergraduate Students of a School of Medicine. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2012, vol.41, suppl.1, pp.136-149. ISSN 0034-7450.

Objective: Learn about perceptions and beliefs regarding psychiatry among undergraduate medicine students and compare their conceptions and appreciations concerning positive and negative aspects, before and after specific training in psychiatry. Methods: Observational, cross-sectional study; qualitative and quantitative research with application of a survey for undergraduate medicine students of the Universidad de La Sabana, before and after a specific psychiatry course. 90 students answered the survey in two groups: one of them before the course, and the other one afterwards; Results: 52,2% corresponded to semesters prior to the course of psychiatry; 25.5% expressed the purpose to specialize in Psychiatry before the course, and such percentage decreased to 13.4% after the course. Association was found between the purpose of not specializing in Psychiatry with the fact of having taken said course (Fisher's exact test, p=0,042). Most students would not specialize in psychiatry because they are interested in other areas. Before the course, students made emphasis on the biological aspects of mental disease. After the course, they also directed their attention to other factors. The two groups believe that the management of these patients is mainly pharmacological. The incurable character of mental illness was also highlighted together with the risk of getting ill and the stigma it entails. Conclusions: Psychiatry is perceived as a medical specialization with emphasis on pharmacological treatment. There is a low frequency of students interested in this area. The course of psychiatry is associated with reduction of this frequency and limits the variability of the psychiatric concept.

Keywords : Psychiatry; education; undergraduate; higher education institutions.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )