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Medical Students’ Career Choice and Attitudes Toward Psychiatry: Case of the Czech Republic

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Abstract

Objective

A survey among medical students of all medical schools in the Czech Republic was conducted to investigate attitudes and views of psychiatry and career choice of psychiatry.

Methods

A Czech version of the Attitudes to Psychiatry Scale (APS) and a questionnaire surveying demographic characteristics and choices of future specialty were distributed to all medical students of eight medical schools in the Czech Republic via the schools’ internal communication systems in the form of an anonymous online questionnaire.

Results

Out of a total of 10,147 medical students in the Czech Republic (academic year 2019/2020), 2418 students participated in the survey (response rate 23.8%). Psychiatry as a non-exclusive career choice was considered by 31.3% respondents; child and adolescent psychiatry was considered by 15.4% respondents. Psychiatry as the only choice was considered by 1.6%, and child and adolescent psychiatry was not considered at all. The interest in both specialties was declining since the first year of study. The status of psychiatry among other medical specialties was perceived as low; students were rather discouraged from entering psychiatry by their families. They did not feel encouraged by their teachers to pursue career in psychiatry despite the fact that they were interested in psychiatry. They also felt uncomfortable with patients with mental illness.

Conclusions

Despite high enthusiasm for psychiatry in the first year of medical school, only a small proportion of medical students consider to choose psychiatry, and especially child and adolescent psychiatry, as a career at the end of medical school.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Progres Q35 grant realized at the Charles University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles University Third Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic

    Lucie Bankovská Motlová & Miroslava Janoušková

  2. National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Formánek

  3. Charles University Second Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic

    Michal Goetz

  4. Charles University First Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic

    David Holub & Hana Papežová

  5. Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

    Jan Hubeňák

  6. Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Kašpárek & Miroslav Světlák

  7. University Palacky Olomouc Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Klára Látalová

  8. University of Ostrava Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Petr Šilhán

  9. Psychiatric Hospital Bohnice, Prague, Czech Republic

    Pavel Trančík

  10. Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    Jan Vevera

  11. Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA

    Richard Balon

Authors
  1. Lucie Bankovská Motlová
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  2. Miroslava Janoušková
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  3. Tomáš Formánek
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  4. Michal Goetz
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  5. David Holub
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  6. Jan Hubeňák
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  7. Tomáš Kašpárek
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  8. Klára Látalová
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  9. Hana Papežová
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  10. Miroslav Světlák
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  11. Petr Šilhán
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  12. Pavel Trančík
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  13. Jan Vevera
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  14. Richard Balon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miroslava Janoušková.

Ethics declarations

The study was approved by the respective ethical committees of all participating schools.

Disclosure

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Motlová, L.B., Janoušková, M., Formánek, T. et al. Medical Students’ Career Choice and Attitudes Toward Psychiatry: Case of the Czech Republic. Acad Psychiatry 44, 751–755 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01311-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01311-z

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