Comparison of Attitude, Fear, and Stigma towards Psychiatric Disorders in Medical Interns of Birjand University of Medical Sciences before and after Training in the Psychiatry Department of Imam Reza Hospital

Work and activity in the psychiatry department affect the scope of people's thinking and judgment and their performance. Considering that similar studies in this field are limited in the country and there has been no study in this field in South Khorasan province, this study aimed to compare the state of attitude, fear, and stigma towards psychiatric disorders in medical interns before and after training. It was in the psychiatric ward.

The present study is descriptive and comparative. Our study population was the students of the psychiatry department in the academic year 1401-1402. In this study, the abbreviated form of the OMI questionnaire was used to evaluate students' attitudes regarding psychiatric disorders, the stigma questionnaire of health care providers (OMS_HC) was used to assess stigma, and the Lerary negative evaluation short form questionnaire was used to assess fear.

The average score of attitude, fear and stigma among students at the beginning and end of the study was not significantly different from each other (P>0.05). The average changes in attitude, fear and stigma scores according to gender, educational level, marital status, place of residence of students did not differ significantly from each other (P>0.05).

The educational programs of the psychiatry department do not lead to the reduction of astigma, fear and increase of students' attitudes compared to the beginning of the study in medical students. The training program for medical interns in the psychiatry department should be revised.