Awareness of Psychosomatic Medicine in Korea: Results From an Online Survey Conducted With Doctors and the General Public.

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to assess and compare psychosomatic medicine (PM) awareness, understanding, and related educational needs in doctors and the general public, and discuss how education for these groups should be provided.

Methods: The Korean Psychosomatic Society conducted an online survey targeting 101 doctors and 100 general public, aged 20-60 years. Sociodemographic data, PM awareness, understanding, PM-related keyword before and after a brief introduction to PM, and educational needs concerning PM were collected.

Results: PM awareness, understanding, and educational needs concerning PM differed significantly between groups. The doctor group reported a significantly higher PM awareness and understanding, and there were significant differences between the groups regarding the frequently-selected PM-related keywords. In the doctor group, they were "digestion," "functional," "irritable bowel syndrome," "pain," "psychogenic," and "somatic symptom disorder" in the general public group, they were "brain," "cause," "influence," "mind," "panic disorder," "problem," "psychology," "response," and "treatment." Additionally, the brief introduction to PM improved PM awareness in both groups. There was a significant difference in the frequently-selected PM-related keywords after the brief introduction. In the doctor group, the words significantly more selected were "association," "concept," "connection," and "influence" and the word significantly less selected was "mind." In the general public group, the words significantly more selected were "association," "connection," "irritable bowel syndrome," and "somatic symptom disorder," and the words significantly less selected were "autonomic nervous system," "brain," "menopause," "panic disorder." The two groups also diverged in their educational needs concerning PM. The most frequently selected needs in the doctor group were "stress and chronic pain," "mental health issues in cancer patients," and "stress and gastrointestinal disorders" in the general public, they were "how to self-manage stress," "stress and chronic pain," and "medical treatments for stress."

Conclusion: Doctors identified more PM-specific terms, whereas the general public had a vaguer understanding of PM. Even a brief education intervention significantly helped align the perceptions of both groups with current PM theory, highlighting the impact of education. Regarding PM educational content recommendations, the focus should be on stress education for the general public and on practical assessment and management of psychosomatic disorders for doctors.