Abstract
Background: Society's attitude towards patients with mental illness has been evolving over the past century and the
speed of this evolution has particularly accelerated since the advent of modern ways of communication and
media. As with other areas of development, attitude change may be expected to be slow-paced in our country but
local evidence is lacking in this regard.
Objective: T o measure the level of stigma towards mental illness in medical students along with its association with their
prior exposure to Psychiatry .
Method: This is across-sectional study conducted between May to August 2019 at a private medical college. Consecutive
sampling was used to include a total of 247 (71% female and 29% male) students of the fourth and final year MBBS after
written infor med consent. A specially designed for m was used to collect relevant socio-demographic details along with data
regarding exposure to Psychiatry . The scores from self-reported Mental Illness: Clinicians' Attitudes scale (MICA)were also
recorded. Chi-Square test was used to assess the association of exposure to psychiatry to stigmatizing attitudes. Data were
analyzed using SPSS20.
Conclusion: A significant proportion of medical students hold negative views about psychiatric illness . Familiarity with
mental health issue through media sources is linked to lower stigmatizing attitudes.
Results: Prior exposure to mental illness in family or friend was reported by 60.5% of the students, 70% described an
exposure through media and only 32% had undergone a clinical psychiatry rotation. Average stigma scores on MICA were
found in 41% of our sample, while 32% had above-average scores and 27% had lower than average stigma. Pearson' schisquare test showed that the previous exposure to mental illness via media sources was found to be significantly associated
with lower levels of stigma in medical students (p= <0.05).
Corresponding Author | Dr Qurrat-Ul-Ain, Consultant Psychiatrist, Rawalpindi Email: drqurrat.psy@gmail.com
