A study on the viewpoint of medical students about treatment and rehabilitation of patients with mental illness

Abstract

Advances in treatment and rehabilitation of persons with mental illness (PWMI) have generally improved 
their well-being. However, some people most especially the lay public and no-psychiatric health workers 
still hold a lot of reservation about the effectiveness of such management interventions. Thus, this study 
set out to explore medical students’ beliefs about treatment and rehabilitation of PWMI. A descriptive and 
cross-sectional study carried out among medical students of the College of Medicine of the University of 
Lagos (CMUL), Lagos, Nigeria. Subjects were selected through multistage and systematic random 
sampling techniques, with age and sex-matched controls selected among dental students. They were 
evaluated with a Questionnaire adapted from an instrument earlier used by Sechrest et al. (1973) on cross
cultural study of attitude to mental illness among university students. A total of 130 medical students 
(subjects) and 57 controls (dental students) were studied. The mean age of subjects was 23.2 ± 3.0 years. 
Varying beliefs about mental illness (MI) were expressed by both subjects and controls. The study has 
found varying beliefs of the subjects about treatment and rehabilitation of PWMI, most of which are 
favorable. However, there is still need to emphasize on anti-stigma education on the subjects over their 
perceived negative beliefs about psychiatry.