Effect Of Psychiatric Clinical Posting On Attitudes Among Student Nurses in University Malaysia Sabah

• Main Authors: Segaran R., Olga Wilfred
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: RT Nursing
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/23653/1/Effect%20Of%20Psychiatric%20Clinical%20Posting%20On%20Attitudes%20Among%20Student%20Nurses%20in%20University%20Malaysia%20Sabah.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/23653/; http://10.13140/RG.2.2.28223.82081
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Students taking up nursing course, bring with them stereotypes and prejudice towards mentally-ill clients. Nurses harbouring such stigmatising attitude can have a profound effect on their subsequent therapeutic relationship and quality of care rendered for the mentally -ill client. Typically, students who harbour stigmatising views, develop positive mind-set after psychiatric posting. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether attitudes towards psychiatric clients improved after psychiatric clinical posting intervention Method: This is a quasi-experimental study, designed to compare change in attitude among a cohort of nurses before and after psychiatry clinical posting. The study involved a convenient sample of all fifty one 5th - semester UMS nursing students undergoing psychiatric postings in Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang Sabah. A validated instrument, the Mental Health Nursing Questionnaire (Happel B, 2008,)was used for pre-post posting assessment. Data collection was done at 2 intervals (To and T1), at day 1 and on the last day (day 15,) of student`s posting. Paired t -test was used to analyse the difference in the attitudes between day 1 and day 15. Results: The nursing students had high scores on negative and positive attitude factors on day 1. On day 15, among 5 negative attitude factors, there was a significant positive change in the stereotypism factor. Conclusion: Nursing student`s placement in psychiatry setting reduces stigmatising attitudes, and as such, psychiatric posting need to remain as a essential practicum requisite incorporated into all levels of nurse training curricula.