title: Differences in views of schizophrenia during medical education: a comparative study of 1st versus 5th-6th year Italian medical students.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study explored medical students' causal explanations and views of schizophrenia, and whether they changed during medical education.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy, lorenza.magliano@unina2.it.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Magliano
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sagliocchi
authors.forename: Melania
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Patalano
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Ambrosio
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oliviero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires