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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 10/2013

01-10-2013 | Original Paper

Differences in views of schizophrenia during medical education: a comparative study of 1st versus 5th–6th year Italian medical students

Authors: Lorenza Magliano, John Read, Alessandra Sagliocchi, Melania Patalano, Antonio D’Ambrosio, Nicoletta Oliviero

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 10/2013

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Abstract

Purpose

This study explored medical students’ causal explanations and views of schizophrenia, and whether they changed during medical education.

Method

The survey was carried out on medical students of the Second University of Naples, Italy, who attended their first-year and their fifth- or sixth-year of lessons. The 381 who accepted were asked to read a case-vignette describing a person who met the ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia and then fill in the Opinions on mental illness Questionnaire.

Results

The most frequently cited causes were psychological traumas (60 %) and stress (56 %), followed by misuse of street drugs (47 %), and heredity (42 %). 28 % of students stated that persons with the disorder could be well again, and 28 % that they were unpredictable. Labeling the case as “schizophrenia” and naming heredity among the causes were associated with pessimism about recovery and higher perception of social distance. First-year students more frequently reported psychological traumas among the causes (76 vs. 45 %), and less frequently heredity (35 vs. 81 %) and stress (42 vs. 69 %), and they perceived less social distance from the “schizophrenics” than fifth/sixth-year students. In particular, 18 % percent of first-year versus 38 % of fifth/sixth-year students believed that these persons were kept at a distance by the other, and 45 versus 57 % felt frightened by persons with the condition.

Conclusions

These results indicate a need to include education on stigma and recovery in schizophrenia in the training of medical students.
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Metadata
Title
Differences in views of schizophrenia during medical education: a comparative study of 1st versus 5th–6th year Italian medical students
Authors
Lorenza Magliano
John Read
Alessandra Sagliocchi
Melania Patalano
Antonio D’Ambrosio
Nicoletta Oliviero
Publication date
01-10-2013
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 10/2013
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0610-x

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