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24th European Congress of Psychiatry / European Psychiatry 33S (2016) S18–S55

S29

Engaging students with psychiatry: Why, how,

and where are we now

S34

Medical students choice of psychiatry

– an international survey

D. Bhugra (President)

World Psychiatric Association, London, United Kingdom

The appeal of psychiatry as a speciality varies around the globe for a

number of reasons. In a majority of countries, medical students are

reluctant to choose psychiatry and this has become a much more

evident matter of concern in the past three decades. The factors,

which affect the choice of psychiatry as a specialty by medical stu-

dents include external and internal stigma, quality of teaching of

the subject as well as research exposure and clinical experience

during placements. In many countries, a placement may last only

two weeks and the exposure is to patients in asylums, whereas a

majority of psychiatric conditions are treated in primary care. In

addition, personal factors such as the ability to deal with openness

and ambiguity play a role in the choice of speciality. A study in

19 countries to explore factors prior to entering medical school,

experiences in medical school and postgraduate in the choice of

the subject showed that those medical students who are likely to

choose psychiatry fall into three major categories:

– those who had decided prior to joining medical school that they

wanted to choose psychiatry;

– those who decide during medical school placements and, finally;

– those who select the specialty after having finished their medical

school training.

The latter group has two further subgroups: one, which falls pas-

sively into psychiatry and another who make an active choice to

take it up. Among 2198 students who participated, 4.5% of the sam-

ple planned to become psychiatrists, with a further 15% considering

it as a possible career. Women (21%) were more likely to consider

psychiatry than men (16%). Key factors associated with choosing

psychiatry were personal as well as based on teaching/learning

experiences. In order to recruit into psychiatry, better teaching,

exposure to common mental disorders and small research projects

may prove to be helpful.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his declaration

of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.850

S35

Papageno program: When learners

collaborate for a safer coverage of

suicide

C.E. Notredame

Regional Medical Center of Lille, Child and adolescent psychiatry,

Lille, France

Media coverage of suicide has been repeatedly shown to influ-

ence suicide rates. TheWerther Effect (WE) qualifies the propensity

of suicide stories to prompt imitative behaviors. By contrast, the

Papageno effect (PE) was more recently identified as a way for

journalists to contribute to suicide prevention through their pro-

ductions. Crucially, both WE and PE depend on the quantitative

(audience, redundancies, size of articles, etc.) and qualitative (type

of story, editorial style, content, etc.) properties of the coverage.

In order to promote the PE and limit the WE, the World Health

Organization (WHO) have edited a guideline for media profession-

als. For instance, journalists are advised to prohibit sensationalism,

avoid pictures or details about the suicide method, and show due

respect to the bereaved relatives. However, it is now clear that the

only chance for these recommendations to be applied is to integrate

their diffusion into a more general effort toward collaboration with

journalists.

Papageno is a French national suicide prevention program that fully

relies on learners to rise awareness about suicide and its coverage. It

mainly consists in pair-meetings between psychiatry trainees and

journalism students. Such an innovative formula breaks with the

old top-down knowledge transmissionmodel in order to foster per-

sonalized and sustainable sensitization. It aims at growing up a new

generation of journalistswhowould bemore aware of their respon-

sibility concerning suicide andwouldmore spontaneously resort to

the WHO guidelines. Ultimately, the Papageno program strives for

the creation of a new culture where journalists and psychiatrist

would collaborate for a safer media coverage of suicide.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his declaration

of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.851

S36

Youth leadership in mental health:

Views from EFPT and IFMSA

M. Pinto da Costa

1

, D. Silva

2 ,

, S. Essafi

3

, E. Frau

4

, V. Berquist

5

,

K. Maceviciute

6

1

Hospital de Magalhães Lemos, Psychiatry Department of Porto,

Porto, Portugal

2

University of Porto, Faculty of Medicine, Porto, Portugal

3

University of Sousse, Medical School, Sousse, Tunisia

4

University of Fribourg, Faculty of Medicine, Fribourg, Switzerland

5

Monash University, Faculty of Medicine, Melbourne, Australia

6

Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius, Lithuania

Corresponding author.

The world today is more challenging than ever before. Discrimina-

tion, stigma, and ever-changing lifestyles are just a few examples

of elements that have a profound impact on the mental health sta-

tus of our global population. Even though the burden of mental

illness is well documented and increasing, mental health remains

a neglected area of health worldwide.

Youth Associations, like the International Federation of Medical

Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and the European Federation of Psy-

chiatric Trainees (EFPT) recognize the importance of tackling this

problem, taking an active role on promoting education in our com-

munities, tackling stigma and advocating for more action. Medical

students worldwide, fromSlovenia, Australia, Lebanon, Brazil, Que-

bec and Grenada – among at least 42 other countries, organise

expansive, creative and engaging mental health projects.

With particular interest we can mention the winner of the last Rex

Crossley Award, attributed to a Slovenian project ‘in Reflection’: a

suicide prevention project, which tackles the different factors asso-

ciated with vulnerable groups through a series of workshops and

campaigns that seek to destigmatize the mental health problems

and offer the opportunity to high school students to get the help

they need.

This talk will give an insight into strengths, weaknesses and chal-

lenges faced by youth in tacklingmental health, specially in the role

of the IFMSA, displaying some of our most interesting and innova-

tive projects from future mental health leaders around the world,

together with the initiatives of EFPT.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their decla-

ration of competing interest.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.852