Stigmatizing attitudes and social perception towards mental illness among Moroccan medical students

This study aimed to explore medical students’ attitudes, social perception, and knowledge towards mental illness and identify the associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Medical Faculty of Fez. A representative sample of 420 Moroccan students from the first to the seventh years was selected randomly during the academic year (2018/2019). They completed the Mental Illness Clinicians Attitudes scale (MICA) and a self-questionnaire exploring sociodemographic data, the university course, social perception and knowledge towards mental illness, and the potential consideration of psychiatry as a career. The average age of participants was 21.73 years (SD ±2.60), and 72.4% (n=304) of respondents were female (M/F gender ratio=0.39). The participants held stigmatizing attitudes and negative social perceptions towards mental illness, as indicated by the high score of the MICA scale (mean=57.24; SD ±9.95). Females (p=0.02) and married students (p=0.02) showed significantly more tolerant attitudes. The attitudes of students (p=0.37) who completed the psychiatry clerkship were slightly more favorable (p=0.15). There was no significant difference in attitudes according to the level of study (p=0.06). Students with a lower socioeconomic level tended to be less stigmatizing (p=0.08). The assessment of knowledge about mental illness among students objectified major gaps. A total of 17.9% (n=75) considered psychiatry as a career. The attitudes of medical students in this study were stigmatizing, and this should without delay motivate Moroccan research, educational and health authorities to investigate further scientific research in this area to address these attitudes and remedies. L’évaluation des attitudes et des représentations sociales envers la maladie mentale chez les étudiants en médecine est primordiale dans le contexte marocain, où les données sont très limitées en l’absence de programmes destinés aux étudiants dans ce domaine. L’objectif de cette étude était d’explorer les attitudes, les représentations sociales, et les connaissances des étudiants en médecine à l’égard de la maladie mentale et d’identifier les facteurs associés. Une étude transversale a été menée à la Faculté de médecine de l’Université de Fès. Un échantillon représentatif de 420 étudiants a été sélectionné aléatoirement de la première à la septième année au cours de l’année universitaire (2018/2019). Ils ont rempli l’échelle MICA et un auto-questionnaire explorant les donné