Neurophobia among medical students

Article Figures & Data

Table 1

Demographic data of the participants among medical students and junior physicians in Saudi Arabia.

Table 2

Medical students’ responses to questions regarding their attitude toward neurology according to gender.

Questions	Male n=195 (46.2%)		Female n=227 (53.8%)		P-value	Total N=422
Questions	Disagree %	Mean score	Disagree %	Mean score	P-value	Disagree %	Mean score
My neurology teaching experience is strong	27.2	2.2	31.7	2.0	0.573	29.6	2.1
I consider neurology a future career option	27.2	2.3	38.8	2.1	0.002	33.2	2.2
Neurological signs are difficult to elicit consistently	11.9	2.3	22.7	2.1	0.025	17.5	2.2
In neurology, limited treatments are available	13.5	2.6	17.9	2.5	0.137	15.4	2.5
Neurological diseases are complicated and difficult	8.7	2.7	9.0	2.6	0.633	8.8	2.6
Neurological disorders are challenging and interesting	10.0	3.0	8.1	3.0	0.381	8.8	3.0
Patients are uncooperative and difficult to examine	22.2	2.3	18.4	2.2	0.112	19.9	2.2
Most neurological diseases have poor outcome	11.2	2.6	12.1	2.5	0.298	11.4	2.5
Dealing with patients with neurological disorders is more difficult emotionally than non-neurologic diseases	11.5	2.7	14.1	2.6	0.123	12.8	2.7
Neurology requires a very long training time	5.2	3.1	4.4	3.1	0.968	4.7	3.1
My knowledge in Neurology is sufficient	37.6	1.9	47.6	1.7	0.159	42.7	1.8
Neurology is difficult	10.9	2.6	17.8	2.4	0.114	14.5	2.5

Table 3

Medical students’ responses to questions regarding their attitude toward neurology according to year level.

Questions	4th year n=140 (33.2%)		5th year n=68 (16.1%)		6th year n=227 (53.8%)		Intern n=49 (11.6%)		P-value
Questions	Disagree %	Mean score	Disagree %	Mean score	Disagree %	Mean score	Disagree %	Mean score	P-value
My neurology teaching experience is strong	16.4	2.4	32.4	2.1	41.2	1.8	22.9	2.3	<0.001
I consider neurology a future career option	17.9	2.5	24.2	2.4	45.7	1.9	47.9	1.9	<0.001
Neurological signs are difficult to elicit consistently	10.8	2.3	22.4	2.1	23.3	2.2	12.5	2.3	0.094
In neurology, limited treatments are available	11.0	2.5	25.0	2.3	17.0	2.5	12.8	2.8	0.064
Neurological diseases are complicated and difficult	7.1	2.7	13.4	2.5	9.2	2.6	6.4	2.6	0.636
Neurological disorders are challenging and interesting	5.1	3.2	7.6	3.2	13.4	2.8	6.5	3.0	0.007
Patients are uncooperative and difficult to examine	15.8	2.3	25.4	2.2	19.6	2.3	27.7	2.1	0.613
Most neurological diseases have poor outcome	13.5	2.4	17.6	2.4	10.4	2.6	2.2	2.9	0.031
Dealing with patients with neurological disorders is more difficult emotionally than non-neurologic diseases	11.0	2.6	14.7	2.7	15.2	2.6	8.3	2.9	0.435
Neurology requires a very long training time	3.6	3.2	8.8	3.0	3.1	3.1	8.3	2.9	0.177
My knowledge in Neurology is sufficient	32.6	1.9	50.0	1.7	49.4	1.7	39.6	1.9	0.076
Neurology is difficult	13.1	2.6	13.2	2.5	13.4	2.5	25.5	2.3	0.660