Introduction:

The use of commercial films in the classroom is a common and accessible practice. The practice of showing films for teaching is defined by the term cinemeducation.

Objective:

The present study was based on the hypothesis that cinemeducation, as an active methodology, could contribute to the learning of Personality Disorders (PD) during undergraduate training. Face-to-face classes were given to 213 students of medicine, nursing, psychology, physiotherapy and speech therapy, to assess the knowledge developed about PD.

Method:

The study is cross-sectional and quantitative, composed of paired and dependent samples (before and after). The steps were: a) application of an assessment tool in the form of a questionnaire (before); b) class, consisting of exhibition, reflection and discussion of scenes from Brazilian films, c) application of the same questionnaire (after), and d) comparative statistical analysis between the results.

Results:

The results showed that the method is effective for the teaching-learning process, with self-reported improvement in students’ knowledge after class (question 1), and an observable improvement when identifying and conceptualizing PD (question 3). Furthermore, students reported, on average, that the strategy contributed to learning, before class, and they maintained that opinion, on average, afterwards (question 2).

Conclusions:

The proposed objective was achieved by using a statistically significant sample of students and the results confirmed that the method is effective for teaching. The discussion showed that the use of films can improve learning, and it is consistent with the characteristics of students of the actual generation, since it values the use of technologies in the classroom, allowing critical-reflective teaching and the active student participation. The limitations of the study include the scarcity of contemporary Brazilian films that exemplify all PDs, with no representative scenes for schizotypical, dependent and avoidant PD. Furthermore, a comparative study between the traditional method of teaching PD and cinemeducation is considered necessary in order to investigate its effectiveness when compared to traditional classes.

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