title: Improving psychology students' attitudes toward people with schizophrenia: A quasi-randomized controlled study.
abstract: Despite scientific evidence that the majority of people with schizophrenia (PWS) have personal histories of traumatic life events and adversities, their needs for psychological support often remain unmet. Poor availability of nonpharmacological therapies in schizophrenia may be partly because of professionals' attitudes toward people diagnosed with this disorder. As future health professionals, psychology students represent a target population for efforts to increase the probability that PWS will be offered effective psychological therapies. This quasi-randomized controlled study investigated the effect of an educational intervention, addressing common prejudices via scientific evidence and prerecorded audio-testimony from PWS, on the attitudes of psychology students toward PWS. Students in their fifth year of a master's degree in Psychology at the Second University of Naples, Italy were randomly assigned to an experimental group-which attended two 3-hr sessions a week apart-or to a control group. Compared with their baseline assessment, at 1-month reassessment the 76 educated students endorsed more psychosocial causes and more of them recommended psychologists in the treatment of schizophrenia. They were also more optimistic about recovery, less convinced that PWS are recognizable and unpredictable, and more convinced that treatments, pharmacological and psychological, are useful. No significant changes were found, from baseline to 1-month reassessment, in the 112 controls. At 1-month reassessment, educated students were more optimistic about recovery and less convinced that PWS are unpredictable than controls. These findings suggest that psychology students' attitudes toward PWS can be improved by training initiatives including education and indirect contact with users. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Magliano
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Costanzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Leo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Giustina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schioppa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Read
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology; D011584:Psychology / Q000193:education*; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires