Reducing Stigma toward the Mentally Ill:

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Reducing Stigma toward the Mentally Ill

• The Impact of Exposure versus Information
• Stephanie Turner
• Hanover College

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Stigma

• Goffman (1963) defines stigma as an attribute of
  an individual that makes him different from
  othersand of a less desirable kind-in the
  extreme, a person who is quite thoroughly bad, or
  dangerous, or weak.

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Definitions

• Stigma more specific, negative form of
  attitudes directed toward specific group
• 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
• Empathy vicarious emotional experience of
  others (Mehrabian, 1972)

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Tested Interventions to Reduce Stigma

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

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Pre- / Post-Intervention Design

• Demographics
• 2 surveys pre-intervention
• Empathy scale, CAMI
• Participant sees one of two videos
• Information Professional Lecture
• Exposure Robert Documentary
• Post-intervention surveys
• Empathy scale, CAMI

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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.

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Participants

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

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Materials CAMI

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

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Materials Revised Empathy Scale

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

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Empathy Scale Sample Questions

• Concept Sympathy for the mentally ill
• Negative People make too much of the feelings
  and sensitivity of the mentally ill.
• Positive The mentally ill deserve our sympathy.

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Materials Professional Lecture

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

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Materials Robert Documentary

• Imagining Robert My Brother, Madness, and
  Survival (Hott, 2004)
• Film by two brothers
• 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

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Results CAMI

• Mixed Model ANOVA
• CAMI- significant interaction (p 0.005)
• Follow up analysis for simple main effects of
  time also significant (p lt 0.05)
• Benevolence subscale- significant interaction (p
  lt 0.05)
• Follow up analysis for simple main effects of
  time also significant (p lt 0.05)
• Other subscales showed no significant differences

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Pre-/Post- CAMI Changes
CAMI Score
Significant interaction (p 0.005)
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Pre-/Post- Benevolence Changes
Significant interaction (p lt 0.05)
Benevolence Score
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Discussion of CAMI

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

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Results Empathy Scale

• Reliability was achieved Empathy Scale revised
  to specify the Mentally Ill was found to be
  reliable (a 0.71)
• Hypothesis 2 not supported No significant main
  effects or interaction found

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Previous Contact of Participants
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Empathy Discussion

• Participants displayed high levels of empathy
  pre-intervention.
• Mean 61.4
• Range 49-70
• High empathy levels may have restricted the
  amount of change that could be evoked by
  intervention.

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Implications and Future Research

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

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Pre-/Post- Empathy Changes
Empathy Score
No significant Interaction p 0.737