Reducing Stigma toward the Mentally Ill The Impact

Reducing Stigma toward the Mentally Ill: The Impact of Exposure versus Information Stephanie Turner Hanover College 1

Stigma n Goffman defines stigma as an attribute of an individual that “makes him different from others…and of a less desirable kind-in the extreme, a person who is quite thoroughly bad, or dangerous, or weak”. (1963) 2

Definitions n Stigma: more specific, negative form of attitudes; directed toward specific group n Exposure: any association or connection with mentally ill which involves seeing them as full human beings, capable of humor, warmth, intelligence, etc. and deserving of empathy n Empathy: “vicarious emotional experience of others” (Mehrabian, 1972) 3

Tested Interventions to Reduce Stigma n Angermeyer and Dietrich (2006) discuss how close contact with the mentally ill impacts and shapes attitudes (1996) n Addison and Thorpe (2004) Found that factual knowledge alone did not positively alter attitudes n Used Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill Scale (CAMI) n 4

Pre- / Post-Intervention Design n Demographics n 2 surveys pre-intervention n Empathy scale, CAMI n Participant sees one of two videos Information: “Professional Lecture” n Exposure: “Robert Documentary” n n Post-intervention surveys n Empathy scale, CAMI 5

Hypotheses Hypothesis 1: Participants in the Exposure Condition (“Robert Documentary”) will show a decrease in stigmatizing attitudes compared to participants in the Information Condition (“Professional Lecture”). Hypothesis 2: Participants in the Exposure Condition will show an increase in empathy as compared to the participants in the Information Condition. 6

Participants n Students (N = 25) n = 22 female; n = 3 male n Wide range of previous experience with mental illness, including acquaintance, friend, family member, and self n Majority (76%) reported some previous experience or contact with mentally ill persons 7

Materials: CAMI n Community Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI) (Taylor & Dear, 1981) n Four dimensions of attitudes: 5 point Likert Scale n Benevolence § “We need to adopt a far more tolerant attitude toward the mentally ill in our society” n Authoritarianism § “The best way to handle the mentally ill is to keep them behind locked doors” n Social Restrictiveness § “The mentally ill should not be given any responsibility” n Community Mental Health Ideology § “The best therapy for many mental patients is to be a part of a normal community” 8

Materials: Revised Empathy Scale n Based on the Emotional Empathetic Tendency Scale (EET) (Mehrabian, 1971) n Specified empathy toward mentally ill people n 16 items total n 5 point Likert Scale n 8 concepts- 2 question each 9

Empathy Scale Sample Questions n Concept: Sympathy for the mentally ill n Negative: “People make too much of the feelings and sensitivity of the mentally ill. ” n Positive: “The mentally ill deserve our sympathy. ” 10

Materials: Professional Lecture n Video created for this study n Licensed Clinical Psychologist and director of a college counseling center n Discusses three mental disorders: Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, and Schizoaffective disorder n Formal lecture style, no empathic or humanizing information present 11

Materials: Robert Documentary n Imagining Robert: My Brother, Madness, and Survival (Hott, 2004) n Film by two brothers n n Robert, who has suffered with mental illness Jay, primary caretaker over the last 38 years Shows how family copes with mental illness Realistic, humanizing portrayal of Robert 12

Results: CAMI n Mixed Model ANOVA n CAMI- significant interaction (p = 0. 005) n Follow up analysis for simple main effects of time also significant (p < 0. 05) n Benevolence subscale- significant interaction (p < 0. 05) n Follow up analysis for simple main effects of time also significant (p < 0. 05) n Other subscales showed no significant differences 13

Pre-/Post- CAMI Changes CAMI Score S i ( 14

Pre-/Post- Benevolence Changes Significant interaction (p < 0. 05) Benevolence Score 15

Discussion of CAMI n Hypothesis 1 confirmed: Participants showed more benevolent, and thus less stigmatizing attitudes after Exposure intervention n CAMI and Benevolence differences might be even greater with a neutral or more stigmatizing sample. 16

Results: Empathy Scale n Reliability was achieved: Empathy Scale revised to specify the Mentally Ill was found to be reliable (α = 0. 71) n Hypothesis 2 not supported: No significant main effects or interaction found 17

Previous Contact of Participants 18

Empathy Discussion n Participants displayed high levels of empathy pre-intervention. Mean: 61. 4 n Range: 49 -70 n n High empathy levels may have restricted the amount of change that could be evoked by intervention. 19

Implications and Future Research n Target sample low in empathy and high in stigmatizing attitudes toward mentally ill n Further research is needed to Test intervention with more participants n Explore the role benevolence plays in reducing stigmatizing attitudes and how it is related to empathy n 20

Pre-/Post- Empathy Changes Empathy Score No significant Interaction p = 0. 737 21