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There has been growing awareness underpinned with legislative recognition of the need to reduce the stigma attached to mental health. Education is seen as an integral factor for this endeavour. The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature to determine both positive and negative attitudinal changes of health-care-related undergraduate students towards mental illness after a training intervention within higher education.

A search of papers written in the English Language was conducted between 2004 and 2021, using CINAHL, Eric, Educational Research Complete, Medline, psychINFO and SocIndex. Search terms used were undergraduate, attitudes or perceptions, mental illness/mental ill health, education, stigma and students.

In total, 24 studies were critically reviewed, which included experimental, descriptive and exploratory designs. The appraisal of papers used recognised evaluation tools to review the methodological quality. Findings suggest that overall, anti-stigma education has a significant positive effect for student attitudinal change.

Mental health anti-stigma education is beneficial for changing attitudes, however, more bio-medically framed training is less powerful for initiating change. Learning from those with the lived experience appears to have a more sustainable impact as indicated in some of the studies. There is a need for more exploratory research to gain further knowledge on the critical educational mechanisms that may foster more long-term reframing of positive attitudes towards mental health.

Training providers need to consider the compelling evidence base surrounding anti-stigma pedagogy that supports the use of individuals with experience of mental ill health within the educational processes.

Mental health stigma has potential for profound negative impact on individuals and at a wider societal level. Education is central to enable learners to consider their attitudes to mental illness to reduce stigmatising attitudes. Students on health-care-related courses are influential in becoming catalysts for change.

This paper has critically reviewed the literature examining the attitudes of health-care-related undergraduate students following anti-stigma education, offering insights into some of positive and negative attitudinal changes and opinions of the event. In particular contributing to an understanding on the important components for eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health.

Challenging the stigma of mental illness is a major public health concern. School‐based anti‐stigma education is in its infancy. Little attention has been given to the pedagogical structure of such education, and evidence shows some initiatives have been unsuccessful, or worse, increased stigma. This paper seeks to examine the impact of a novel approach to anti‐stigma education, which aims to overcome these problems, “inclusive dialogue”. It encourages young people to grapple with the complexities of mental illness, with emphasis on personal narratives rather than abstract concepts.

A small group of year 10 pupils participated in a series of inclusive dialogue sessions. Qualitative interviews with participants were conducted and their responses along with their contributions during the sessions were analysed.

Participants reported that taking part enhanced their confidence in talking about mental illness, increased their understanding and capacity for empathy towards others with mental health problems. They felt the understanding they gained was relevant to their lives and an important educational experience which they would carry forward into their adult lives.

Inclusive dialogue is a novel approach to education about mental illness which has been evaluated using innovative qualitative methods. It shows promise and requires further investigation.

Biological understandings of mental illness are promoted by both anti-stigma campaigners and increasingly by activists protesting against social security cuts. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the pitfalls of the “illness” conceptualisation for reducing discrimination, comments on divisions between those arguing for a right to work and those who seek a right not to work, and proposes bridge building and more effective messages, drawing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Review of relevant evidence on the effectiveness or lack of it of the “mental illness is an illness like any other” message in anti-stigma work, and discussion of grey literature from campaigners and bloggers.

There is a growing body of evidence that the “illness like any other” message entrenches rather than reduces stigma and discrimination: this message should not be used in anti-discrimination work. At the same time some social security bloggers and campaigners have argued they are “sick” in order to resist efforts to compel them to seek work or face sanctions; whilst older disability rights campaigners have argued for the right to work. The paper argues for new bridge building and use of evidence based messages in campaigning.

This paper is based on review of evidence on the impact of using the “illness” message to reduce stigma and discrimination; and on discussion of campaigns and blogs. It is not based on a systematic review of campaigns.

There is a need for campaigns that support rights holistically – the right to a decent standard of living and the right to work. This requires bridge building between activists, which could usefully be rooted in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The “illness” conceptualisation is harmful to the effort to reduce stigma and discrimination. Mental health staff can act as allies to those they serve in securing all these rights.

This is the only recent paper to analyse the evidence that the “illness like any other” message is harmful in anti-stigma work, together with its implications for the recent phenomenon of mental health campaigners moving from opposition to the medical model, to a new argument that they are “too sick” to work. This paper suggests ways forward for everyone with an interest in combatting stigma and discrimination.

This paper aims to investigate the local perspectives, based on culture and beliefs about peer stigma, consequences and strategies to reduce mental health stigma among adolescents in Indonesia.

This study included 30 participants, including students, teachers, health professionals and lecturers. Two sessions of focus group discussions and 14 sessions of in-depth interviews were performed to collect the data. A qualitative content analysis was carried out, and some related themes and sub-themes were explored.

This study found that peer stigma was prevalent and negatively impacted the psychological, social and intellectual development of adolescents with mental disorders (MD) in Indonesian society. Five strategies to tackle peer stigma were proposed, including increasing mental health literacy (MHL), reducing the harmful effects of stigma, fostering a supportive social environment, expanding access to and improving the quality of mental health care and advocating for public health policies.

More qualitative research on the experiences and perspectives of victims, perpetrators and society concerning mental health stigma in adolescents is required to fully understand why stigma arises, what causative factors and repercussions it has, as well as how to deal with it.

Peer stigma still exists among adolescents. It has negative impacts on their mental and psychological well-being. MHL, social environment, the harmful effects of stigma, as well as mental health access and policy were concerns of this study. A school is a place where adolescents spend most of their social time. Schools play a vital part in the stigma-reduction program.

Mental health stigma among adolescents with MD is an issue that has potentially hindered mental health recovery. Anti-stigma intervention based on local perspectives is valuable in increasing the effectiveness and acceptance of interventions.

This article describes the development of the Stamp Out Stigma campaign developed by service users in Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust. It highlights the positive benefits the campaign can have for service users, staff and the services they receive and/or in which they work.

Nurses and nursing students often hold stigmatizing attitudes toward patients with mental illness, contributing to poor health outcomes. To address this, direct contact with persons with lived experience in mental illness (i.e. consumers) has been integrated into training curricula. This has shown decreased negative attitudes and increased empathy, but gains are not typically maintained at follow-up. The purpose of this paper is to explore acceptability (i.e. feasibility, process and fidelity) and stigmatizing attitudes of nursing students after the completion of a mentor-based direct-contact curriculum to decrease stigmatizing attitudes toward persons with mental illness.

A five-week manualized contact-based mentorship program, with a mentor (i.e. consumer)–mentee (i.e. student) pairs implemented as a supplement to the clinical curriculum for 23 baccalaureate-nursing students. Feasibility (i.e. attendance), acceptability, fidelity and stigmatizing attitudes were evaluated. The Error Choice Test and the Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-9) were used to assess stigmatizing attitudes.

Feasibility was 100 percent for face-to-face meetings and participants were satisfied with the integration of the program into their curriculum, indicating high acceptability. A repeated measures ANOVA yielded significant findings for stigmatizing attitudes (F (2, 21)=6.96, p<0.02, η²=0.23). This suggests that a consumer-led mentoring program may reduce mental health stigma within student-nursing populations. The AQ-9 did not yield significant results.

This study lacked a comparison group. Future research should include a randomized controlled trial.

This study demonstrates capacity for high feasibility and acceptability for an anti-stigma curriculum in this educational context.

Advocates and researchers have made mental illness stigma elimination a public health priority. Research on stigma change strategies has highlighted programmatic delivery strengths; however, an area in need of further development is in messaging capable of attaining specific behavior change. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Change goals were incorporated into an existing model of stigma change to propose the TLC4 model (Targeted, Local, Credible, Continuous, Contact, Change Goals). This paper reviews health communications literature regarding tailored messaging, applying these principles to stigma change programs to enhance behavioral impact.

Tailored messages comprises four elements: capturing and maintaining attention, actively thinking about information, having emotional appeal, and making material relevant to each person. Incorporation of these elements enhances the likelihood of an individual making a behavior change.

This review can guide facilitators of stigma change programs to craft presentations with tailored messages in directive call-to-actions. Future directions for evaluation of message and behavioral change impact are discussed.

This paper aims to examine the progress of the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) over the first five years of its existence toward stated goals while existing outside the constitutional framework of health care funding.

The paper is a review of the outputs of the MHCC with emphasis on its first‐ever mental health strategy for Canada, knowledge exchange network, anti‐stigma initiatives, randomized controlled trial of housing‐first initiatives for the homeless mentally ill, as well as other completed projects.

Consultation and collaboration are essential aspects of working successfully with people with lived experience of mental illness, their families, health professionals, and governments. At the same time, when expectations are high, needs are great, and opinions are varied, disappointment and frustration are inevitable.

Although the MHCC initiatives include the largest single funded research project in mental health in Canadian history, and evaluation is built into other initiatives, the political dimension of its work does not lend itself to research evaluation.

The creation of an organization outside the constitutional framework of health care funding may allow for a catalytic role in precipitating change.

The emphasis on anti‐stigma campaigns targeted at defined populations (youth, health professionals, workforce, journalists) may combat the discrimination people with mental illnesses and their families experience.

The paper shows that the Canadian experience is, to date, largely undescribed in the peer‐reviewed literature and may influence other jurisdictions. One of its interventions is already being replicated internationally.

This paper aims to offer a profile of Stuart Baker‐Brown.

Stuart provides a short biography and is then interviewed by Jerome. Areas covered in the interview include his trek to Everest Base Camp, involvement with the Time to Change anti‐stigma campaign and his work on the Recovery Archive.

Stuart stresses the importance of giving hope to people with mental health problems. Individuals also need to believe that they can recover. He feels that the new Recovery Archive will help provide a more encouraging alternative perspective on living a life beyond the effects of mental illness.

Stuart is one of comparatively few people trying to present psychosis in a more positive perspective. He has made a significant contribution to helping change public perceptions towards mental illness through his media work.