Stigma and mental health: the perception of the health professionals of the future and the feasible interventions (original) (raw)
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Decrease in Stigma Towards Mental Illness in Portuguese Medical Students After a Psychiatry Course
Acta Médica Portuguesa
Introduction: Stigma towards mental illness is considered a key obstacle to the provision of medical care to psychiatric patients. This is not only present in the general population but also among healthcare professionals. Therefore, medical students could be a target population for stigma prevention measures. The aim of this study is to assess the evolution of the attitudes of medical students from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra towards psychiatric patients, before and after attending Psychology and Psychiatric courses.Material and Methods: Students from the third and fourth years of the integrated Master’s degree in Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra were asked to complete four questionnaires. The surveys were distributed before and after the attendance of the courses.Results: There was a statistically significant decrease of the stigma scores (p = 0.025) between the two measurements (38.16 initially, 36.72 on the second moment)....
A multicentric study on stigma towards people with mental illness in health sciences students
BMC Medical Education, 2021
Background There is evidence of negative attitudes among health professionals towards people with mental illness but there is also a knowledge gap on what training must be given to these health professionals during their education. The purpose of this study is to compare the attitudes of students of health sciences: nursing, medical, occupational therapy, and psychology. Methods A comparative and cross-sectional study in which 927 final-year students from health sciences university programmes were evaluated using the Mental Illness: Clinicians’ Attitudes (both MICA-2 and MICA-4) scale. The sample was taken in six universities from Chile and Spain. Results We found consistent results indicating that stigma varies across university programmes. Medical and nursing students showed more negative attitudes than psychology and occupational therapy students in several stigma-related themes: recovery, dangerousness, uncomfortability, disclosure, and discriminatory behaviour. Conclusions Our ...
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2020
Introduction: Stigma attached to mental health encompasses discrimination and exclusion of psychiatric patients and hinders their opportunities to have more productive and fulfilling lives. Moreover, stigma also exists among health professionals, and therefore, it hampers the provision of treatment and care and the promotion of mental well-being. This manuscript intends to assess and compare the levels of stigmatization toward patients with mental illness between medical students and doctors from different specialties. Methods: The Portuguese version of Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27) was used to assess the attitudes of medical students (n = 203), non-psychiatry doctors (n = 121), and psychiatry specialists (n = 29) from the University of Minho and three hospitals in the region of Braga, Portugal (
Stigmatization of Psychiatric Patients Among Students in Serbia
Acta Medica Medianae
Social psychiatry emphasizes the inclusion of mentally ill persons in family and social life. The negative attitude towards them is still an obstacle for achieving the best treatment results and their optimal quality of life. Young educated people could be an important community factor in the fight against stigmatization of psychiatric patients. The aim of the study was to determine the difference in attitudes among Serbian students attending different faculties, as well as to find out the correlation between students' attitudes and their demographic characteristics. The study involved 408 Serbian university students. The respondents were divided into three groups to determine the differences in attitudes between groups with different educational levels. We have used the Attitude Questionnaire and Demographic Questionnaire for this purpose. Medical students who had passed their exam in psychiatry, those who experienced psychological and psychiatric problems themselves, and those with a mentally ill family member had a positive attitude towards the mentally ill. Future health workers and the family members of mentally ill individuals are most important in the attempts to decrease stigmatization of psychiatric patients.
Stigma in Nursing Students towards Patients with Mental Illness
IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 2017
Stigma towards patients with mental disease is a worldwide and multifaceted phenomenon and there is support that stigma and discrimination are also prevalent among health care team and health care students. Aim: to assess stigma toward patients with mental illness among undergraduate nursing students. Methods: Descriptive research design was used in this study. The sample consists of 309 nursing students in the academic year 2015-2016 they were chosen by systematic random sampling using official students' listing. Tools: the data collected by the following tools, 1) socio-demographic characteristics of the students 2) Devaluation-Discrimination Scale, 3) Social Distance Scale, 4) Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Help and 5) Self-Stigma of Seeking Help. Results: The percentage of items showing signs of discrimination of mental patients like "I would eagerly believe a previous mental patient as my friend". Also large numbers of the students are" unwilling to accept mental patients as a close friend". Conclusion: The present study revealed that stigma is common among nursing students; also the results showed that there is no difference in stigma toward patients with mental illness among nursing students in the different grades.
Stigma is a Negative Marking of Mental Patients
Stigma means a negative marking of a person just because they have a diagnosis of a mental illness, and most often it refers to schizophrenia. It is associated with prejudices, i.e. negative attitudes that are based on the wrong facts that schizophrenia cannot be treated. Stigma is caused by a combination of ignorance and fear, which is the basis for the creation of entrenched myths and prejudices. Looking historically, schizophrenia as a disease has remained for the public one of the few medical areas whose mention is associated with feelings of discomfort, fear, prejudice and avoidance behavior. Aim: The aim of this paper is to say a few words about stigma and stigmatization, and at the same time to note that some people are stigmatized for no particular reason. Methods: The desk method was used in this paper. Results: When someone is stigmatized, he is also discriminated. Conclusion: The combination of severe mental illness, discrimination and stigmatization can be devastating for the mentally ill and has historically played a large role in isolating them emotionally and socially from other people and deepening their suffering.
Stigma towards Patients with Mental Illness among Nursing Students
2019
Stigma towards patients with mental illness is a worldwide and multifaceted phenomenon and there is a support that stigma and discrimination are also prevalent among health care team and health care students. Aim: To assess stigma toward patients with mental illness among nursing students. Methods: Descriptivecorrelation research design was used in this study. The sample consisted of 309 nursing students in the academic year 20142015 they were chosen by systematic random sampling using official students' listing. Tools: The data collected by the following tools, 1) Socio-Demographic characteristics of the students 2) Devaluation-Discrimination Scale, 3) Social Distance Scale, 4) Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Help and 5) Self-Stigma of Seeking Help. Results: The percentage of items showing signs of discrimination of mental patients in which 60.2% of the students refuse to accept a previous mental patient as their friends Conclusion: The present study reveale...
Does stigma concerning mental disorders differ through medical education?
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2006
Background Stigma and discrimination toward mentally disabled persons might exist within the medical environment and may form a barrier for patients to receive appropriate care. The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of medical students toward mentally disabled people and to understand the impact of schooling on attitude difference by evaluating second and sixth year medical students. Method The study was carried out among 452 students from all the three public medical schools located in Istanbul, Turkey. Attitudes were assessed through a Likert scale by presenting vignettes for depression and schizophrenia. Results In both men and women, the scores of last year students for depression and schizophrenia scales were better compared with those of the second graders, and the differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). However, the proportion of students who did not perceive schizophrenia as "temporary" and "curable" and the perceived likelihood of dangerousness for schizophrenia were higher among the last year students compared with the second graders. Conclusion As a result of this study, it was determined that last year students had improved attitudes toward the mentally ill; however, they still had striking stigmatizing opinions and judgments. The improvement in the attitude score between the second and the sixth graders is considered a result of the students' contact and interaction with persons having mental disorders throughout their medical education. The challenge is to maintain a social environment that aims to reduce the distance between the patient and the medical staff through introducing a holistic approach in medical schools.
Stigma and Attitudes towards Psychiatric Patients in Portuguese Medical Students
Acta Médica Portuguesa, 2015
Introduction: This study aims to assess the impact of psychiatric education on attitudes of medical students towards psychiatric patients.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional survey of medical students was conducted at the biggest Portuguese medical school. The students completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, including sociodemographic data, family history of psychiatric illness, and the Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill scale.Results: Of the 2 178 students, 398 answered the survey, representing 18.2% of the whole medical school. There was a significant improvement in all Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill scale dimensions along the medical course. The higher scores were in Restrictiveness subscale (38.01), and the lower scores were for Authoritarianism (36.13). The best improvement along the course was for Authoritarianism (5th year score - 1st year score = 2.03), and the worse was for Benevolence (5th year score - 1st year score = 0.39). The biggest...