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Revisiting the ATP 30: the Factor Structure of a Scale Measuring Medical Students’ Attitudes Towards Psychiatry

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Abstract

Objective

Among the scales developed for assessing medical students’ attitudes regarding psychiatry, “attitude towards psychiatry-30” (ATP-30) is probably the most widely used. Although this scale was originally deemed to form a unitary dimension without any meaningful subscales, the authors sought to re-examine its factor structure and the viability of subscales.

Method

Secondary data from a survey of 743 final-year medical students from nine medical schools in Sri Lanka were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with promax rotation and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), to assess the underlying factor structure of ATP-30. Parallel analysis was used in determining the number of factors to retain. Items conceptually external to the emerging factors were discarded.

Results

Three models based on literature (one-, five-, and eight-factor) were disproved by CFA. A six-factor solution encompassing 18 items was supported by EFA and CFA and was gender-invariant. These factors were, namely, the image of psychiatrists, psychiatric patients and mental illness, the efficacy of treatment, psychiatric teaching, career choice, and psychiatry as an evidence-based discipline. While “the image of psychiatrists” formed the most consistent subscale (ω = 0.71), the internal consistencies of the other subscales were modest (ω = 0.55–0.67). The overall 18-item scale showed good internal consistency (ω = 0.78).

Conclusion

The findings provide evidence of a multi-dimensional structure in medical students’ attitudes towards psychiatry, endorsing six meaningful subscales of the ATP-30. Future researchers and educators can utilize these subscales in identifying specific areas where students’ attitudes are more stigmatized, to be intervened during undergraduate training.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W.A.V.S. Bandara, A.A.I.D. Athurugiriya, T. Yangdon, G.R. Cader, L.A.B. Bokalamulla, W.R.R.D. Bandara, W.M.K.M. Bandara, K.A.S.I.P. Chandradasa, and H.P. Athukorala, who contributed as co-authors in the primary study from which data were extracted for the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka

    Anuradha Baminiwatta, Miyuru Chandradasa & Dileepa Ediriweera

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    Shavindra Dias

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  1. Anuradha Baminiwatta
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Correspondence to Anuradha Baminiwatta.

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Baminiwatta, A., Chandradasa, M., Dias, S. et al. Revisiting the ATP 30: the Factor Structure of a Scale Measuring Medical Students’ Attitudes Towards Psychiatry. Acad Psychiatry 45, 716–724 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-021-01446-7

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