Evaluation of US Medical Student Bias Toward Mental Health Before and After First-Year Pre-clinical Psychiatry Education.
Alyssa C SmithMichael J OppermanJoseph P McCannMorgan P JivensJulianne GiustLeah WetherillMartin Henry PlaweckiPublished in: Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry (2023)
These results suggest that pre-clinical education can lead to a measurable decrease in bias in medical students early in training. Unfortunately, individual question results and free responses continue to highlight significant bias in US medical students against mental illness and the field of psychiatry. Health care educators should be aware of these biases and their potential impact on patient outcomes so that these harmful perceptions can be targeted.