ERIC Number: EJ840653
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1042-9670
EISSN: N/A
Attitudes toward Psychiatry among Final-Year Medical Students in Kumasi, Ghana
Laugharne, Richard; Appiah-Poku, John; Laugharne, Jon; Shankar, Rohit
Academic Psychiatry, v33 n1 p71-75 Jan-Feb 2009
Objective: Most sub-Saharan African countries have fewer psychiatrists than one per one million people. One possible reason could be that medical students have a negative attitude toward the specialty. The authors evaluated the attitudes toward a career in psychiatry of final-year medical students in Kumasi, Ghana, and compare these with attitudes of medical students in Spain and the United States. Methods: Medical students were given a 28-item questionnaire on attitudes toward psychiatry, which was used in previous studies in Spain and the United States. Results: Ghanaian students (N=94) had a fairly positive view of psychiatry, similar to those in Spain, although less positive than U.S. students. About 15% were considering psychiatry as a career option. There was evidence of significant stigmatization of patients with mental illness and psychiatrists and concern about the use of coercive detention of patients. Conclusion: The difficulty recruiting physicians into psychiatry in Ghana, and perhaps other African countries, is unlikely to be due to negative attitudes and may be due to a lack of opportunity to train in psychiatry.
Descriptors: Medical Students, Negative Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Psychiatry, Comparative Analysis, Career Choice, Social Bias, Mental Disorders, Educational Opportunities, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ghana; Spain; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A