Is it possible to change the public stigma towards serious mental illnesses with a minor intervention?

Abstract

In this study was use quantitative design- experimental research. The sample included 21 students. Half of them were engineering students (n: 10) and the other ones were psychology students (n: 11). To observe the difference between stigma levels of students (n: 21), pre and post-test were conducted for both control and intervention group ten-fifteen days apart. Furthermore, participants divided in two parts as psychology and engineering students and possible differences between these groups were observed as well by using five measurements (Error Choice Test, Attribution Questionnaire-9, Empowerment Scale, Recover Scale, and Self- Determination Scale). Results of the analysis demonstrated that there is a statistically significant three-way interaction between time (pretest- posttest), group (intervention / control) and department (engineering / psychology) for The Empowerment Scale. Moreover, results of the analysis indicated that video intervention was effective to reduce public stigma toward people with mental illnesses in the Attribution Questionnaire Help Item (Q7) for psychology students. Furthermore, as it is expected, psychology students reported more stigma level than engineering students in both pre and post-tests of Recovery Scale. Mean Stigma Level score was higher in ‘Control group Psychology students’ than ‘Control group Engineering students’. It means that psychology students reported more stigma on the idea of possibility of recovery from psychological illnesses. This difference between psychology and engineering students wasn’t seen in the intervention group. Therefore, this findings show that video intervention was effective on reducing the stigma levels of psychology students regarding Recovery Scale results. Therefore, it can be said that being an engineering or psychology student changed the stigma level of students who were placed in control group but not in intervention group because stigma of psychology students towards people with mental illnesses were eliminated by the intervention considerably. Overall result of the study shows that analysis supported the idea of video as an intervention technique is efficient to decrease public stigma towards people with mental illnesses.

Keywords

• Stigma
• Public Stigma
• Self-stigma
• Mental Illness
• Video Intervention

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