Stigma in Psychiatry: Impact of a Virtual and Traditional Psychiatry Clerkship on Medical Student Attitudes

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess the change in medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry following a virtual clerkship experience compared to a traditional clerkship experience. METHOD: Ninety-seven medical students from the University of Ottawa were assessed pre- and post-clerkship on the ATP-30 (Attitudes Towards Psychiatry-30) measure. Cohorts of students were categorized as pre-COVID or during-COVID depending on when and how they experienced their clerkship (traditional or virtual). The total student response rate was approximately 48%. A quasi-experimental design was implemented, and non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Medical students’ overall attitudes towards psychiatry improved from pre- to post-clerkship, with the type of clerkship experience (traditional or virtual) having no significant impact on the magnitude to which attitudes improved. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a virtual clerkship in psychiatry did not deteriorate medical student attitudes towards psychiatry as a specialty, with both the traditional and virtual clerkship program enhancing students’ attitudes towards psychiatry favorably.