Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand.
Psychotherapy Unit and Geriatric Psychiatry Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, 110 Intawaroros Rd., T. Sriphum, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand.
Sci Rep. 2023 May 29;13(1):8714. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35797-y.
Attitude to psychiatry influences motivation for medical students to successfully achieve in studying psychiatry. With a new generation of students, it would be interesting to investigate how attitudes have changed. This study aimed to compare the attitude of fifth-year medical students toward psychiatry in recent and in the past 24 years. Two samples of fifth-year medical students at Chiang Mai University completed the 30-item attitude to psychiatry (ATP-30); 118 students completed it in 1996, whereas 242 medical students completed it in 2019. Rasch analysis was employed for examining the differences between the total score and individual item scores between the two groups. The total score of ATP in the 2019 group was significantly higher than that in the 1996 group. After misfitting individuals and biased items were removed, only 15 items were valid and useful for a comparison. Of 15 items, 11 were found highly significantly different between two groups (p < 0.001). Negatively worded items, e.g., no strong evidence indicating effectiveness, became easier to score items (increased positive attitude) whereas some positively worded items, e.g., I would like to be a psychiatrist. Nine items, became more difficult (less positive attitude) comparing between 1996 and 2019. In a comparison between the two methods using the traditional t-test and Rasch analysis, only 5 of 30 items (16.7%) agreed with each other. The overall attitude to psychiatry was significantly higher at the present compared with that in the past. Most items did not differ between the two times. Further studies regarding improving the attitude scale using item response theory such as Rasch should be encouraged.
对精神病学的态度影响医学生成功学习精神病学的动机。对于新一代学生，研究态度的变化将是很有趣的。本研究旨在比较最近 24 年来，泰国清迈大学五年级医学生对精神病学的态度。有两个样本的五年级医学生完成了 30 项态度量表（ATP-30）；1996 年有 118 名学生完成，而 2019 年有 242 名学生完成。Rasch 分析用于检查两组总分和个别项目分数之间的差异。2019 年组的 ATP 总分明显高于 1996 年组。剔除不适合个体和有偏差的项目后，只有 15 个项目是有效的和有用的。在 15 个项目中，有 11 个项目在两组之间存在显著差异（p < 0.001）。措辞上的否定词，例如，没有强有力的证据表明有效性，变得更容易得分（增加积极的态度），而一些措辞上的肯定词，例如，我想成为一名精神科医生，变得更难（不那么积极的态度）。在 1996 年和 2019 年之间比较时，有 9 个项目变得更难（态度更不积极）。在传统 t 检验和 Rasch 分析两种方法的比较中，只有 30 个项目中的 5 个（16.7%）相互一致。与过去相比，目前对精神病学的总体态度明显更高。大多数项目在两次测量中没有差异。应鼓励使用项目反应理论（如 Rasch）进一步研究改进态度量表。
