["...not dangerous, but nevertheless frightening". A program against stigmatization of schizophrenia in schools]

Evaluation of a brief school programme providing information about schizophrenia to high school students. It was investigated whether the programme changed the students' attitude towards this target group and whether information given by a patient affects the results.

114 high school students (6 school classes) took part in the programme: 57 students were informed by a psychiatrist and an afflicted person (group A), the other 57 were informed by a psychiatrist and a social worker (group B). The students' attitude towards schizophrenics was assessed using a vignette of a fictitious class-mate suffering from schizophrenia (according to DSM criteria) and by questionnaires assessing the students' emotional and cognitive reactions and their social distance towards the person described by the vignette.

Only in group A (psychiatrist and afflicted) there was a significant improvement regarding the emotional reaction (reduction of fear, increase in positive emotions) and a significant decrease in social distance. Moreover, students no longer associated psychiatric illness with being "crazy". In group B (psychiatrist and social worker) these changes could not be observed. There was even a significant increase in describing patients with schizophrenia as dangerous.

As high school students themselves consider their level of knowledge about psychiatric illness as low, information about this topic should be given more attention than is currently done (also from a preventive point of view). For such information to be effective and to affect students' attitudes positively, it appears necessary that students have the opportunity to get in contact with a person affected by psychiatric illness. For changing attitudes it is also essential how information is presented.