Assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

Background: The psychiatric clerkship quality maybe one of the effective factors on students' attitude toward psychiatry. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect on the attitude of the people involved in the psychiatric clerkship education of medical students toward psychiatry.

Methods: A total of 103 Medical students of Ahwaz Jondishapur University who entered psychiatric clerkship between spring 2007 and spring 2010 were assigned to study. Participants completed a demographic form and an attitude towards psychiatry questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman and Kendall correlation coefficient.

Results: Considering psychiatry as a future career, the rate of interest for attitude towards psychiatry and attitude towards the effect of clerkship components improved, after the clerkship. There were significant positive correlation between the factors such as personal, familial or patient-care-related experiences and attitude toward psychiatry (p=0/03) and interest in pursue psychiatry as a field (p=0/04). There was also positive correlation between attitude toward psychiatry and interest in psychiatry as a field (p=0/02). A significant negative correlation was observed between the influence of factors such as Medical students, Attending physicians in other disciplines, Residents in other disciplines and Close familiarity with a psychiatrist and attitude toward psychiatry clerkship (p<0/05).

Conclusion: The extracted results concluded that psychiatry clerkship changed the students’ attitude towards a more realistic attitude; moreover there was an increase in the number of students who wished to select psychiatry field for their future career