Anti-stigma films and medical students' attitudes towards mental illness and psychiatry: randomised controlled trial

Aims and Method To explore the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of the effects of two anti-stigma films on medical students' attitudes to serious mental illness and psychiatry. Attitudes to serious mental illness, perceived dangerousness, social distance and psychiatry, were measured before and after watching the films and at 8 weeks. Results Intervention films significantly improved general attitudes to serious mental illness and social distance, with a trend towards reducing perceived dangerousness. These effects appeared to attenuate during the students' clinical placements, suggesting a possible interaction with their clinical experiences. Clinical Implications Our results suggest both that it may be possible to conduct a substantive trial of the effects of the intervention films on a larger cohort of medical students and that the films may be effective in reducing stigmatising attitudes in medical students.