Aims and MethodTo 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.ResultsIntervention 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 ImplicationsOur 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.

Movement sensors proved well suited to capturing head movements, demonstrating a large effect size in subjects with schizophrenia.

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Methods: 374 subjects admitted to a psychiatric hospital with a schizophrenic or schizoaffective disorder were included. 84 (22.5%) of them had an involuntary legal status. Medication adherence was recorded by the MARS (medication adherence rating scale) and an instrument developed for this purpose measuring perceived coercion with respect to medication and other aspects of treatment. In addition, a comprehensive set of psychopathological, clinical and sociodemographic variables was recorded at each follow-up as well as the time span to a subsequent hospitalisation. Follow-up investigations were performed at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months.Objective: Deficits in attention, memory or executive performance are well known symptoms in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In contrast, data on cognitive impairment in schizoaffective disorder are still lacking or conflicting.