Positive attitudes towards psychiatry among Chinese medical students

Background and aims:Increasingly positive attitudes have been reported among young people in China towards mental illness, but little is known about Chinese medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry, psychiatric services and patients.Methods:We administered a bilingual survey to Wuhan University medical students in the final years of their clinical training. Primary outcomes were composite scores on a 21-item attitudes toward psychiatry (ATP) survey and the number of correct responses to diagnostic questions following a series of three clinical case vignettes.Results:Mean composite score on the ATP items was 78/105 (SD = 9.6), representing overall positive attitudes among the students. Female gender and having learned about more psychiatric disorders were positively associated with a higher mean ATP score and remained so after adjustment for relevant covariates.Conclusions:Chinese medical students reported positive attitudes towards psychiatry, openness with regard to psychiatric services, and respec...