Improving Psychology Students' Attitudes Toward People With Schizophrenia: A Quasi- Randomized Controlled Study.

Improving Psychology Students' Attitudes Toward People With Schizophrenia: A Quasi- Randomized Controlled Study. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2016 Mar 10; Authors: Magliano L, Rinaldi A, Costanzo R, De Leo R, Schioppa G, Petrillo M, Read J 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. ...
Source: The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Am J Orthopsychiatry Source Type: research