Abstract
This study explores the effects of the psychiatric clerkship on medical students’ attitudes toward mentally ill patients. Of 42 junior medical students in the study, 11 students were assigned to a primarily “Dispositional” unit and 11 to a “Treatment” unit. The control group consisted of 20 students with no psychiatric clerkship experience. All completed the Opinion about Mental Illness scale on the first and last days of the clerkship. The results demonstrate that the Dispositional Unit students experienced a decrease in Benevolence and an increase in Social Restrictiveness. The Treatment Unit students showed a decrease in Social Restrictiveness and an increase in Mental Hygiene Ideology.
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Eagle, P.F., Marcos, L.R. & Cancro, R. Medical Students Attitudinal Changes Associated with the Psychiatric Clerkship. Acad Psychiatry 3, 180–188 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399736
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399736