Attitudes of students of dentistry towards mentally ill patients

Abstract

Background: The attitudes of society towards psychological disorders have not changed significantly through history, although the diagnosis and the possibility of their treatment have significantly improved. The results of many studies indicate that mental disorders and their treatment are less socially accepted than disorders of an organic nature [1]. Evidence suggests that people with mental illness are more vulnerable to dental neglect and poor oral health. Health care professions including dentists are not immune to social prejudices and share the general public’s attitude attributed to people with mental illness, affecting quality of care [2]. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine some possible changes in attitudes in a population of students of dentistry towards psychiatric patients after classes in psychiatry. Methods: The study sample included 102 students of the third year of dentistry (37.3 % male). Their mean age was 22.28 ± 0.89. The sociodemographic questionnaire, questionnaire about psychiatric experience and Opinions about mental illness (OMI) questionnaire [3], were administered. We were followed instruction from the questionnaire author and divided it into five subscales: Authoritarianism, Benevolence, Mental hygiene ideology, Social restrictiveness, Interpersonal etiology. Questionnaire about psychiatric experience consist of questions: “Did you have any psychiatric problems?”, ‘’ Are any of the family member psychiatric patient”?, “ Are you afraid of psychiatric patients”? Participants were interviewed before and after classes on psychiatry. Study was approved from ethic committee of institution. Results: We paired average scores of five subscales before and after classes on psychiatry. Statistical significant change of score was found just in subscale Benevolence (1.618 ±6.55, p<0.05) in whole sample. These subscale reflect positive attitude. After that, we paired all subscales with sociodemographic variables (gender, place of inhabitancy) and with questions about psychiatric experience (positive psychiatric anamnesis, fear of psychiatric patients). We got a statistical significant change between genders in subscale Interpersonal etiology. Women got higher scores on this subscale (U= 9.13, p<0.05). Conclusions: Based on our results and a good reliability of questionnaire (Cronbach α > 0.7) about attitudes we can conclude that students of the third year of dentistry achieved higher scores on subscales who reflect negative attitudes and they did not change their attitudes towardsAbstracts S93 psychiatric patients globally after two months of classes in psychiatry and meeting with psychiatric patients. It is good that score of subscale Benevolence who reflect positive attitude was higher after classes in psychiatry. It is interesting that female achieved higher scores on subscale Interpersonal etiology than male participants because this subscale have a paternalistic view on psychiatric patients. There is a need for organising classes of psychiatry for at least one semester and additional education about the doctor-patient relationship, because attitudes that health workers have in relation to mental disorders represent an essential part of the attitude towards their patients and are important for reducing the stigmatisation of patients.