title: Improving medical student attitudes towards people with schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and evaluate an intervention for final year medical students to reduce stigma against people with schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 87 students participated in a 3-h workshop that included both a contact component (a DVD of a young man with schizophrenia) and an experience of simulated auditory hallucinations. Attitudes to schizophrenia were evaluated using the Attitudes to Mental Illness Questionnaire (AMIQ), completed at the beginning and end of the workshop.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant improvement in mean AMIQ scores after participating in the workshop. Students with more negative attitudes before the workshop showed the most significant improvement, whilst there was little change for students who held more positive attitudes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A workshop combining a DVD narrative by a young person with schizophrenia and simulated auditory hallucinations is an effective teaching tool to improve medical students' attitudes to people with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Ramsay Health Care Mental Health Services, Northern Mental Health, South Australia. cherrie.galletly@adelaide.edu.au
authors.forename: Cherrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galletly
authors.forename: Cassandra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia; D013240:Stereotyping; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching