Career choice and influential factors among medical students majoring in psychiatry in China
Year: 2021
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The undergraduate program of psychiatry has been widely established in recent years to improve the education and recruitment of psychiatrists in China. We aim to investigate the career choice of medical students majoring in psychiatry in China and the influential factors. METHOD: This multicenter study was conducted in 26 medical schools in China from May to October of 2019. Participants included 4610 medical students majoring in psychiatry and 3857 medical students majoring in clinical medicine. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the influential factors of students' choices of psychiatry at matriculation and as a career. RESULTS: 44.08% of psychiatry majored students gave psychiatry as a first choice at matriculation, and 56.67% of them would choose psychiatry as a career, which was in sharp contrast to the proportion of clinical medicine majored students who would choose psychiatry as a career (0.69%). Personal interest (59.61%), suggestions from family members (27.96%), and experiencing mental problems (23.19%) were main reasons for choosing psychiatry major at matriculation. Personal interest (odds ratio [OR] = 2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.87-2.40), experiencing a psychiatry clerkship (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.28-3.08), being female (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.30-1.68), experiencing mental problems (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.28-1.56), and suggestions from family members (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08-1.46) correlated positively with students' choice of psychiatry as career. Students who lacked psychiatry knowledge (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29-0.85) or chose psychiatry because of lower admission scores (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.63-0.97) were less likely to choose psychiatry as a career. CONCLUSION: More than half of psychiatry majored medical school students planned to choose psychiatry as their career, whereas very few students in the clinic medicine major would make this choice. Increasing students' interest in psychiatry, strengthening psychiatry clerkships, and popularizing psychiatric knowledge are modifiable factors to increase the psychiatry career intention. The extent to which medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry can be changed through medical school education and greater exposure to psychiatry will need further investigation.
Source: BMC Medical Education
Authors: Ying-Jian Zhang, Kai Yuan, Su-Hua Chang, Wei Yan, Jian-Yu Que, Jia-Hui Deng, Yi-Miao Gong, Jia-Ming Luo, Shi-Chang Yang, Cui-Xia An, Yi-Min Kang, Hua-Shan Xu, Yi-Ming Wang, Li-Fang Zhang, Wen-Fang Zhang, Yin-Li Song, Dong-Wu Xu, Huan-Zhong Liu, Wen-Qiang Wang, Chuan-Xin Liu, Wen-Qiong Yang, Liang Zhou, Jiu-Bo Zhao, Miao-Yu Yu, Jun-Yu Chen, Hong Tang, Juan Peng, Xiu-Jun Zhang, Yong Xu, Ning Zhang, Li Kuang, Zhan-Jiang Li, Yu-Hua Wang, Jie Shi, Mao-Sheng Ran, Yan-Ping Bao, Le Shi, Lin Lu
Institutions: Peking University, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Center for Life Sciences, North Sichuan Medical University, Henan Psychiatric Hospital, Henan Medical University, Hebei Medical University, First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Bengbu Medical College, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Qiqihar Medical University, Changzhi Medical College, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou Medical College, Harbin Medical University, Wenzhou Medical University, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Jining Medical University, Hubei University of Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangxi Medical University, Xinjiang Medical University, Gannan Medical University, Zunyi Medical University, North China University of Science and Technology, Shanxi Medical University, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Nanjing Brain Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, The Affiliated Yongchuan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing Medical University, Capital Medical University, Beijing Anding Hospital, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,170
OpenAlex ID: W3118824690