Stigma Toward Mental Illness Among Saudi Medical Students Pre and Post Psychiatry Course Comparison

This cross-sectional study aims to compare pre- versus post-psychiatry course stigma levels toward mental illnesses among King Saud University medical students and identify which factors could affect stigma degree. The sample included 384 randomly chosen students. The overall scores of the used scale, the 15-item Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers (OMS-HC-15), indicated no statistically significant difference between the before- and the after-psychiatry-course groups. The univariate analysis for differences in OMS-HC-15 score according to the sociodemographic characteristics of the pre psychiatry course group indicated that the factors associated with the total OMS-HC-15 score were sex (p < 0.001), being diagnosed with mental illness (p < 0.001), and having a relative diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.005). Among the post psychiatry course group, the univariate analysis indicated that the same factors, namely, sex (p = 0.001), being diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.006), and having a relative diagnosed with mental illness (p = 0.007), were associated with the total OMS-HC-15 score. Further studies at a larger scale to confirm generalizability of the results are warranted.