Education Research: Monitoring and Tracking Neurophobia

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Neurologic disorders are common medical conditions. However, even with a higher demand for neurologic care, the capacity to train neurologists is impaired. The fear of neurosciences/neurology by medical students, known as neurophobia, may cause multiple adverse effects in neurologic assistance. The objectives of this study were to estimate the current prevalence and characteristics of neurophobia in medical students in Brazil and to compare neurophobic symptoms at 2 time points. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted with students from 4 medical schools in Pará, Brazil, who matriculated into the preclinical stage, clinical stage, and internship were submitted to a questionnaire to assess the perception of clinical specialties, including neurology. Reasons for neurophobia, probable strategies to improve neurologic education, and a specific scale to detect neurophobia were also evaluated. Furthermore, we performed a temporal comparison of current results with those from a previous study from 2015. Results: Neurophobia was detected in 63.3% of medical students. The perception of the difficulty in neurology/neurosciences was very high in all stages, and the perception of interest and quality of teaching worsened during the internship. The need to understand neuroanatomy and neurophysiology was cited as the most important reason for neurophobia. More and better bedside tutorials were the most mentioned suggestion to improve neurologic education. The temporal comparison between 2015 and 2022 showed that the level of knowledge, quality of teaching, and likelihood of pursuing a career in neurology has become more favorable in 2022. Discussion: The prevalence of neurophobia in Brazil was higher than that in high-income countries. Unfavorable opinions about neurology tended to increase throughout the medical course, but the temporal comparison showed that the impact of neurophobia has decreased. Surveillance systems for monitoring and tracking neurophobia should be implemented in medical schools.

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