Attitudes of medical students toward psychiatry in Eastern Mediterranean Region: A systematic review

BackgroundPsychiatry is facing one of the highest levels of shortages among medical specialties. Stigma toward psychiatry plays an influential role in medical students' decision to choose psychiatry as a career and has been reported to be prevalent in different parts of the world, particularly in low/middle-income countries.ObjectiveTo systematically review the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) medical students' attitudes toward psychiatry, to assess whether their attitudes are stigmatized or not, and the factors affecting their attitudes.MethodPubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsychInfo (PsycARTICLES) were searched using a combination of main terms “stigma,” “psychiatry,” “medical students,” and the name of Eastern Mediterranean countries. Cross-sectional studies assessing the attitudes of EMR medical students toward psychiatry were included in this review.ResultsTen studies were eligible to be included in the result synthesis. These were from Pakistan (n = 3), Iran (n = 2), Saudi Arabia (n = 1), Lebanon (n = 1), Egypt (n = 1), Bahrain (n = 1), and Oman (n = 1). Most studies reported a combination of both positive and negative attitudes among medical students; however, the over