Non-psychiatry consultant's attitude towards psychiatry: a study from Universal College of Medical Sciences, Nepal

INTRODUCTION: Mental Health has been hidden behind the curtain of stigma and discrimination for a long time. Not only the mentally ill, even the mental health professionals are stigmatized. The medical professional's attitude to psychiatry appear to be negative, although the data are dated. Attitude of non-psychiatry consultants towards psychiatry may affect their ability to promote psychiatry as a discipline. The main aim of this study is to study the non-psychiatry consultants' attitude towards psychiatry. METHODS: It is a hospital based cross-sectional descriptive study of 30 non-psychiatry consultants working in Universal College of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Bhairahawa, Nepal. ATP-30 self report questionnaire was used to collect the data. RESULTS: Majority of the subjects were male. About 69% of the consultants didn't have any exposure in the psychiatry. However, majority of the consultants had positive attitude towards psychiatry. The mean score for ATP-30 was 110.03. CONCLUSION: Majority of the consultants had positive attitude towards psychiatry. However some erroneous beliefs are still prevalent among the consultants. The attitude of non-psychiatry consultants directly/indirectly affects the development of psychiatry as a discipline. Further studies of such kind can help to determine whether changes in attitudes towards psychiatry are needed among the non-psychiatry consultants. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jucms.v1i4.9563 Journal of Universal College of Medical Sciences (2013) Vol.1 No.04: 2-6