Perspectives of GCSE students attending a psychiatry summer school in south London

Clementine Wyke*, Glori Louise De Bernier, Chun Chiang Sin Fai Lam, Clare Holt, Sophie Butler, Anto Praveen Rajkumar Rajamani, Charlotte Wilson Jones

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aims and Method This study evaluated a pilot psychiatry summer school for GCSE students in terms of participant experience, effects on attitudes to mental illness and perception of psychiatry as a career option. This was done using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill scale, career choice questionnaires and a discussion group following the week-long programme attended by 26 students. Results Students were significantly more likely to choose psychiatry after the summer school (P = 0.01). There were statistically significant changes in scores for social restrictiveness (P = 0.04) and community mental health ideology (P = 0.02). Qualitative analysis generated four themes: variation in expectations, limited prior knowledge, perception of the summer school itself and uniformly positive attitudes to psychiatry after the summer school. Clinical implications Targeting students at this early stage appears to be an underexplored positive intervention for improving both attitudes towards mental illness and recruitment to psychiatry.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)114-119
Number of pages6
JournalBJPsych Bulletin
Volume45
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021

Keywords

  • Education and training
  • recruitment
  • school students
  • stigma and discrimination
  • summer school

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