A medical school students' mental disorders attitudes

Objective: Stigmatization for mental illness is a phenomenon that is seen all over the world and its negative effect on individuals with mental disorders has been shown strongly with studies done up to day. It is known that the stigmatizing attitude towards mental illness is also seen among the medical faculty students as well. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the attitudes of students of Eskithornehir Osmangazi University (ESOGU) Faculty of Medicine to mental disorders regarding to sociodemographic variables. Method: The study is conducted between December 2017 and April 2018; the sample was consisting of the volunteer students of Eskithornehir Osmangazi University School of Medicine. In our study, sociodemographic information form and Beliefs Towards Mental Illness Scale (BTMIS) were used as data collection tool. Results: 314 students who agreed to participate in the study were assessed. Twenty-four of the participants (7.6%) reported a psychiatric diagnosis, and 63 (20.1%) had a psychiatric diagnosis. When comparing the scores of BTMIS scores by sex, the mean scores of male students were significantly higher than female students (z = 2.65, p < 0.01). Discussion: It is consistent with the literature that women, the students with high education, the students with psychiatric disorders, and the student who had a relative with psychiatric disorder had more positive attitudes. It is important to improve the stigmatization awareness toward the medical students.