Source: Assessment of psychological literacy of undergraduate students before receiving formal psychological education
Midori TOKITA 1), Tatsuya KANENO 1), Kenta NOMURA 1), Masayuki NARA 2).
1) Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Mejiro University [Japan]
2) Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Mejiro University [Japan]
Objective: This research aimed to examine the psychological literacy of undergraduate students who major in health sciences and nursing.
Methods: We surveyed 303 undergraduate students using a questionnaire that tests their basic understanding of psychology, view of psychology, and expectation for psychology prior to their specialized education.
Results: We found that respondents (1) had a limited understanding of the objects and methods of psychological research, (2) had a biased view of psychology, undermining the scientific aspects of psychology [as the image of psychology, "nonscientific", "humanities" and "friendly" factors were prominent], and (3) tended to overestimate the effectiveness of psychological solutions on interpersonal problems.
Conclusions: The results indicated that curriculum for the elemental psychological education should be reorganized and reformed at the university.
