[Psychosocial causes and consequences of schizophrenia: opinions of Italians].
OBJECTIVE
Description of opinions on schizophrenia and its psychosocial consequences in a sample of general population.


METHODS
The study has been carried out in 29 GP units stratified by geographic area and population density of their catchment areas and randomly selected. Each respondent was asked to read a case-vignette describing a patient who met ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia, and then to fill the Questionnaire on the Opinions about Mental Illness--General Population's version (QO-GP).


RESULTS
Data on 714 respondents were collected. 21% of the sample identified a case of schizophrenia, 66% of depression/anxiety disorder, and 13% of "nervous breakdown". Factors most frequently mentioned as causes of detected disorder were stress (72%), heredity (62%), family difficulties and psychological traumas (45%). More pessimistic opinions about psychosocial consequences of schizophrenia were found among respondents with lower educational level and older age. Respondents who referred the case-vignette to schizophrenia reported more pessimistic opinions about psychosocial consequences of detected disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study outline the need to plan educational campaigns on mental illnesses, which take into account the socio-cultural characteristics of the target populations.
Magliano
Lorenza
L
Istituto di Psichiatria, Università di Napoli SUN, Napoli. lorenza.magliano@unina2.it
De Rosa
Corrado
C
Fiorillo
Andrea
A
Malangone
Claudio
C
Guarneri
Manuela
M
Marasco
Cecilia
C
Maj
Mario
M
D001290:Attitude; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012961:Sociology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires