A Cross Sectional Study on Choice of Psychology as a Profession amongst Medical and Dental Graduates

Introduction: Mental health is an ignored subject in the field of medicine and in the area of public health, and less 1% health budget is spent on mental health problems in developing countries.

Aims and objectives: The basic aim of the study is to analyse the choice of psychiatry as a profession amongst medical graduates in Pakistan.

Material and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Sharif Medical and Dental College, Lahore during 2019 to 2020. The data was collected through systematically designed questionnaire which include all the demographic data and history of selected participants. We also included additional scales to measure personality and stigma towards mental illnesses. The data was collected from 3^rd year, 4^th year, final year medical students and from house officers.

Results: The data was collected from 700 students and house officers. There were 450 males and 250 female participants.  However a significantly higher proportion of participants (22%, n=197) were reporting their interest in the field of Psychiatry who had done more than a month long psychiatry ward rotation as compare to those participants (14%, n=54) with less than a month rotations (P-value=0.01).

Conclusion: It is concluded that current age of understudies have a more noteworthy attention to the potential for recuperation from serious mental sickness, so the animating openness to intense work is more compelling.