The influence of student classes in psychiatry on the perception of people with intellectual disabilities.

OBJECTIVE

Aim: To gain knowledge about the attitudes of medical students towards people with intellectual disabilities and the impact of psychiatry teaching on changing these attitudes..

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Materials and Methods: The study involved 106 students of medical faculties who had not yet taken a course in psychiatry and 104 who had completed the course and passed the exam. The interviewers who conducted the research were the students themselves. The tool used in the study was a questionnaire of own design designed by a special educator and a psychiatrist. The questionnaire included questions about age and gender, as well as 5 statements of a discriminatory (rejecting) nature and 5 affirmative (accepting) statements indicating full acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities.

RESULTS

Results: Most of the people surveyed presented positive attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities (approx. 88%). Approximately 12% of the respondents presented negative attitudes reflecting social stereotypes. The groups of students before and after completion of the classes in this subject did not differ in the frequency of the 10 selected attitudes studied.

CONCLUSION

Conclusions: The vast majority of medical students surveyed present positive attitudes (judgments) regarding people with intellectual disability. Approximately 12% of the surveyed medical students present negative attitudes (judgments) towards persons with intellectual disability. There is no correlation between the completion of psychiatry classes and the frequency of negative attitudes (judgments) towards persons with intellectual disability among the surveyed medical students.