An investigation of knowledge and attitudes towards antidepressants: a cross-sectional survey of Jordan’s six medical schools

BMC Psychiatry

Research

Rand Murshidi¹  Mahmoud Abdallat²  Hana Taha³  Radwan Banimustafa⁴  Zaid Alkayed⁴  Abdallah Al-Ani⁵  Jaafar Al-Omairi⁶  Adees Wirtan Bedros⁶  Muhammad Hammouri⁶  Hadeel H. Ghanem⁶  Maram Aljayeh⁶  Leen Al-Huneidy⁶  Rand Abbas⁶  Mustafa Ibrahim Abu-usba⁶  Dunia Z. Jaber⁶ 

[1] Department of Dermatology, School of medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;Department of Neurosurgery, School of medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;Department of Pharmacology, Public Health and Clinical Skills, Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan;Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of psychiatry, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;Office of Scientific Affairs and Research, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan;School of medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan;

关键词: Antidepressants;    Jordan;    Medical students;    Drug attitude inventory;    Knowledge;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-023-05037-8

 received in 2023-03-03, accepted in 2023-07-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveDepression is Jordan’s most ravaging mental illness. Despite the growth of antidepressant use, only a handful of studies examine the factors affecting antidepressant knowledge among healthcare workers or medical students. Therefore, we aimed to explore the knowledge and attitudes towards antidepressants across Jordan’s six medical schools.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, we investigated the knowledge and attitudes towards antidepressants through the Drug Attitude Inventory and a literature-validated knowledge domain. Clinical students from Jordan’s six medical schools were recruited. Differences in knowledge and attitudes scores were examined by year of study, medical school among other factors. A multivariate linear regression model was utilized to assess predictors of knowledge.ResultsWe included a total of 1,234 participants representing Jordan’s six major schools of medicine. About 14.9% of participants had a personal history of antidepressant use while 20.5% reported family history of psychiatric disease. The majority of students demonstrated favorable attitudes towards antidepressants (74.1%). Students demonstrated an average understanding of antidepressants’ mechanism of action, side effects, but not indications in special populations. Senior medical students, higher GPA, higher family income, personal history of antidepressants, and family history of psychiatric illnesses were associated with significantly higher knowledge scores (all p-values < 0.001). In addition to attitudes scores, the aforementioned were positive predictors of knowledge scores in the multivariate model.ConclusionMedical students’ knowledge towards antidepressants leaves room for significant improvement. Yet, it is evident that significant differences for both attitudes and knowledge exist across medical schools which may indicate a gap in either training or teaching methodology.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 1