Abstract
Sixty-nine medical students completed a questionnaire on attitudes toward patients, before and after a six-week psychiatric clerkship. There was a significant increase in acceptance of biological factors in psychopathogenesis, while a high endorsement of psychodynamic factors was sustained. Students also indicated greater willingness to get close to the mental life of patients compared to a more distancing attitude before their rotations. Women were significantly more likely to be non-judgmental toward patients and to tolerate patient autonomy than males. A control group of seventeen students tested at a six-week interval with no intervening psychiatry experience showed none of these changes. Thus, scales can be developed to reliably assess attitudes toward patients and to correlate these attitudes with a variety of parameters. Implications of these data in relation to treatment ideology and clinical decision-making are discussed.
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Roskin, G., Carsen, M.L., Rabiner, C.J. et al. Attitudes Toward Patients. Acad Psychiatry 10, 40–49 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03500809
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03500809