Purpose
Previous studies have demonstrated that using movies in teaching psychiatry enhances understanding of mental illness. However, the comparison between movies utility in psychiatric education and traditional approaches was naïve. The purpose of this study was to compare movie classes to regular three traditional teaching methods within the curriculum.

Methods
Data were collected from fifth-year medical students at Pranangklao Hospital Medical Education Center, Thailand, at the end of the academic year. Participants completed questionnaires that included three main parts: 1) personal information; 2) a 5-point Likert assessment scale for the perception of knowledge gained in psychiatry, the attitude toward psychiatry, and the preference for the movie class within the curriculum across outpatient department (OPD) teaching, a one-day psychiatric hospital visit, and bedside teaching; and 3) open-ended questions aimed at assessing knowledge retention from movie class. The collected data were analyzed as descriptive statistics (percentage and mean) and paired T-tests.

Results
The 33 participants (80.5% response rate) demonstrated high-level knowledge-gaining perception across all teaching methods (4.51 to 4.78). Statistically significant differences in the perception of knowledge gain were observed when comparing movie classes to OPD teaching (p = 0.004) and bedside teaching (p = 0.01). Attitude toward psychiatry scores showed high across all teaching methods (4.68 to 4.71) with no significant differences detected (p > 0.05). Preference for movie class as a self-directed or elective learning opportunity showed a moderate to high score (3.57 to 4.09). Knowledge retention analysis showed that 81% of students could recall psychiatric knowledge acquired from the movies.

Conclusions
The movie class is effective in educating and promoting positive understanding and knowledge retention in psychiatry for medical students. However, less effective than OPD teaching and bedside teaching on perceived knowledge gain. Consequently, students preferred the movie class as an elective or self-directed learning opportunity rather than as a routine class within the curriculum.