German medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry [Einstellungen von studierenden der medizin zur psychiatrie. Eine untersuchung mit einer in das Deutsche ubersetzten, erweiterten version des ATP-30]

Medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry are very important for the future care of psychiatric patients and the recruitment of qualified graduates. We examined the attitudes of 105 German medical students toward psychiatry using a German translation of the ATP-30, a reliable, self- administered questionnaire. In spite of a marked interest in psychiatry, most students thought it improbable that they would become psychiatrists. Attitudes toward psychiatry were generally positive (ATP-30 score: 104.6±13.4, where 90 represents middle, or neither positive nor negative) but showed clear differences in some aspects. Attitudes toward psychotherapy were markedly positive, while those toward psychiatric therapy in general or the scientific basis of psychiatry were less positive. We could find no influence of sex on the ATP score, whereas students having previous experience with psychiatry showed more positive attitudes towards it.