UCL Medical School, University College London, London, UK.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
BMJ Open. 2024 Mar 14;14(3):e083595. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083595.
To capture UK medical students' self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and to explore the factors associated with support for changing the legal status of psychedelics to facilitate further clinical research.
Cross-sectional, anonymous online survey of UK medical students using a non-random sampling method.
UK medical schools recognised by the General Medical Council.
132 medical students who had spent an average of 3.8 years (SD=1.4; range: 1-6) in medical school.
Most students (83%) reported that they were aware of psychedelic research and only four participants (3%) said that they were not interested in learning more about this type of research. Although medical students' harm assessment of psychedelics closely aligned with that of experts, only 17% of students felt well-educated on psychedelic research. Teachings on psychedelics were only rarely encountered in their curriculum (psilocybin: 14.1 (SD=19.9), scale: 0 (never) to 100 (very often)). Time spent at medical schools was not associated with more knowledge about psychedelics (r=0.12, p=0.129). On average, this sample of medical students showed strong support for changing the legal status of psychedelics to facilitate further research into their potential clinical applications (psilocybin: 80.2 (SD=24.8), scale: 0 (strongly oppose) to 100 (strongly support)). Regression modelling indicated that greater knowledge of psychedelics (p<0.001), lower estimated harm scores (p<0.001), more time spent in medical school (p=0.024) and lower perceived effectiveness of non-pharmacological mental health treatments (p=0.044) were associated with greater support for legal status change.
Our findings reveal a significant interest among UK medical students to learn more about psychedelic research and a strong support for further psychedelic research. Future studies are needed to examine how medical education could be refined to adequately prepare medical students for a changing healthcare landscape in which psychedelic-assisted therapy could soon be implemented in clinical practice.
了解英国医学生对迷幻药物的自我报告知识和危害评估，并探讨支持改变迷幻药物法律地位以促进进一步临床研究的相关因素。
采用非随机抽样方法，对英国医学生进行横断面、匿名在线调查。
英国医学理事会认可的英国医学院校。
132 名平均在医学院学习 3.8 年（标准差=1.4；范围：1-6 年）的医学生。
大多数学生（83%）报告称他们了解迷幻药物研究，只有 4 名参与者（3%）表示他们对了解这类研究不感兴趣。尽管医学生对迷幻药物的危害评估与专家的评估密切一致，但只有 17%的学生认为自己对迷幻药物研究有很好的了解。他们的课程中很少涉及迷幻药物的教学（裸盖菇素：14.1（标准差=19.9），范围：0（从未）到 100（非常经常））。在医学院的时间与对迷幻药物的更多了解无关（r=0.12，p=0.129）。平均而言，这组医学生强烈支持改变迷幻药物的法律地位，以促进对其潜在临床应用的进一步研究（裸盖菇素：80.2（标准差=24.8），范围：0（强烈反对）到 100（强烈支持））。回归模型表明，对迷幻药物的了解更多（p<0.001）、估计危害评分较低（p<0.001）、在医学院的时间更长（p=0.024）以及认为非药物心理健康治疗的效果较低（p=0.044）与对法律地位改变的更大支持相关。
我们的研究结果表明，英国医学生对学习更多关于迷幻药物研究非常感兴趣，并强烈支持进一步的迷幻药物研究。未来的研究需要探讨如何改进医学教育，以使医学生为未来的医疗保健领域做好充分准备，在这个领域中，迷幻药物辅助疗法可能很快将在临床实践中实施。
