Reactions to Solidarity Versus Normalcy Messages for Antistigma Campaigns.

This study considers two of many messages that are used in antistigma campaigns: normalcy, that mental illness is like most kinds of illness-"You are just like me," and solidarity, that one's mental illness is accepted-"I stand with you." This study examined how research participants rated message merit: understandable, effective, and compelling. We particularly examined how views on message merit varied by whether participants reported previous mental health experience. Three hundred seventy-three participants rated the merit of the two messages provided in random order. They also reported previous experience with mental health services. Overall, participants viewed solidarity messages with greater merit than normalcy. Participants with self-reported mental illness viewed the solidarity message even better than participants without mental illness; this pattern varied by specific mental health experience. Findings suggest a greater understanding of stigma reduction methods from those who are more likely to have experienced stigma.

Behind Closed Doors: The Stigma of Suicide Loss Survivors.

Many thousands of families lose a loved one to suicide each year. The stigma experienced by family survivors threatens to further burden families and impede the grieving process. This study used a community-based participatory research process to explore the family stigma of suicide from a social-cognitive perspective. We describe a secondary analysis of qualitative data focusing on stigma directed at bereaved families. Thematic analysis of focus group data ( n = 62) resulted in themes describing stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Bereaved families were viewed as contributing to their loved ones death through abuse, neglect, denial, or failure to provide adequate help. Bereaved families were seen as emotionally strong, victims of the suicide, or as contaminated by their association. Families encounter pressure to keep the suicide a secret and experience withdrawal of support systems. Results suggest needs for evidence-based programs to address both public and internalized stigma experienced by bereaved families.

Changing public stigma with continuum beliefs.

BACKGROUND: Given the egregious effect of public stigma on the lives of people with mental illness, researchers have sought to unpack and identify effective components of anti-stigma programs. AIM: We expect to show that continuum messages have more positive effect on stigma and affirming attitudes (beliefs that people with mental illness recover and should be personally empowered) than categorical perspectives. The effect of continuum beliefs will interact with contact strategies. METHOD: A total of 598 research participants were randomly assigned to online presentations representing one of the six conditions: three messages (continuum, categorical, or neutral control) by two processes (education or contact). Participants completed measures of continuum beliefs (as a manipulation check), stigma and affirming attitudes after viewing the condition. RESULTS: Continuum messages had significantly better effect on views that people with mental illness are "different," a finding that interacted with contact. Continuum messages also had better effects on recovery beliefs, once again an effect that interacted significantly with contact. CONCLUSIONS: Implications of these findings for improving anti-stigma programs are discussed.

Examining the Impact of Public Service Announcements on Help Seeking and Stigma: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Health communication campaigns often seek to diminish stigma and promote care seeking, with public service announcements (PSAs) frequently prominent in these campaigns. One example is the Australian-based beyondblue campaign. As an alternative approach, campaigns may seek to reduce stigma by promoting stories of recovery. Participants completed measures of stigmatizing and empowering attitudes at pre-, post-, and 72-hour follow-up after being randomized to a PSA recovery-oriented video, treatable disease-oriented video (beyondblue), or control. When exposed to the recovery-oriented PSA, participants showed significant reduction in stigmatizing attitudes from pre- to posttest than beyondblue or the control group with the emergence of nonsignificant trends identified at follow-up. Findings suggest a recovery-oriented video leads to better change on measures of stigma and affirming attitudes than beyondblue. Despite the aforementioned findings, results failed to show either the recovery or beyondblue videos had a significant impact on intent to seek treatment.

Three agendas for changing the public stigma of mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: Antistigma programs may be guided by 3 differing agendas: services (promote treatment engagement), rights (help people achieve rightful goals), and self-worth (facilitate self-worth and efficacy). This study examined the construct validity of this perspective by examining the factor structure of importance ratings of the 3 agendas. The study examined how importance might be viewed differently by the population as a whole versus a subsample of people who reported previous experience with mental health services and hence could be directly harmed by stigma. METHODS: 373 individuals recruited using Mechanical Turk completed importance ratings for each of the 3 agendas. Measures of public stigma were completed to examine concurrent validity of importance ratings. Those who reported taking medications for a psychiatric disorder were divided into a separate group and completed a measure of self-stigma. RESULTS: Outcomes seemed to confirm the factor structure of the 3 agendas model thereby offering partial support for the framework. Group analyses showed the services agenda was viewed as more important than rights or self-worth. People with mental health experience viewed the services agenda as more important than the other 2. However, dividing the mental health group into low and high self-stigma revealed that those with low self-stigma rated the rights agenda as more important. Conclusions and Implication for Practice: Participants with lower self-stigma identify the harm brought by stigma and thus endorse rights and self-worth more than those with higher self-stigma. Implications of these findings are discussed to assist to prioritize agendas for public health campaigns. (PsycINFO Database Record

Insight into the Stigma of Suicide Loss Survivors: Factor Analyses of Family Stereotypes, Prejudices, and Discriminations.

Families of individuals who die by suicide report public stigma that threatens their well-being. This study used a community-based participatory (CBPR) approach to describe a factor structure for the family stigma of suicide. Candidate items (n = 82) from a previous qualitative study were presented in an online survey format. Members of the public (n = 232) indicated how much they thought items represented public views and behaviors towards family members who lost a loved one to suicide. Factor analyses revealed two factors for stereotypes (dysfunctional, blameworthy), one factor for prejudice (fear and distrust), and three factors for discrimination (exclusion, secrecy, and avoidance).

Self-Stigma, Identity, and Co-Occurring Disorders.

BACKGROUND: A four stage regressive model that links public stigma to self-stigma is applied to mental illness and substance use disorder. We assess this four stage model in those with co-occurring disorders versus those who have mental illness or substance use disorder alone. METHOD: 366 people who self-identified as having either a mental illness or co-occurring mental illness with substance use disorder were recruited from MTurk and completed measures on identity and self-stigma. RESULTS: Higher group identity predicted lower selfstigma in those with mental illness while this effect was not present for participants with co-occurring disorders. Limitations include that this study only looked at mental illness identity for those with both mental illness and substance use disorder; sample limitations are also discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Those with co-occurring disorders may identify more with certain groups over others.

Making Sense of the Public Stigma of Suicide.

BACKGROUND: Research suggests that stigma is a barrier to care for individuals who have attempted suicide. While extensive work has examined the stigma of mental illness, less research has focused on the public stigma of suicide. Existing measures of suicide stigma have lacked a conceptual foundation or have failed to include the perspectives of suicide stakeholders. AIMS: This research draws on previous qualitative research with suicide stakeholders to create a measure of public suicide stigma. METHOD: This study used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to define a factor structure for suicide stigma. The CBPR team used focus groups to generate items for each component of stigma (stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination). Two online surveys (N = 372; N = 243) asked members of the public to rate candidate items for stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. RESULTS: Analyses revealed three factors for stereotypes (weak, crazy, distressed), two factors for prejudice (fear/distrust, anger), and three for discrimination (avoidance, disdain, coercion). LIMITATIONS: Results should be confirmed in other samples and further evidence gathered on convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity. CONCLUSION: The resulting 44-item Suicide Stigma Assessment Scale (SSAS) can be further validated and used to measure efficacy of stigma change interventions.

Stakeholder Perspectives on the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Survivors.

BACKGROUND: Past scholarly efforts to describe and measure the stigma surrounding suicide have largely viewed suicide stigma from the perspective of the general public. AIMS: In the spirit of community-based participatory research (CBPR), the current study brought together a diverse stakeholder team to qualitatively investigate the suicide stigma as experienced by those most intimately affected by suicide. METHOD: Seven focus groups (n = 62) were conducted with suicide attempt survivors, family members of those who died by suicide, and suicide loss therapists. RESULTS: Themes were derived for stereotypes (n = 30), prejudice (n = 3), and discrimination (n = 4). People who attempted suicide were seen as attention-seeking, selfish, incompetent, emotionally weak, and immoral. Participants described personal experiences of prejudice and discrimination, including those with health professionals. CONCLUSION: Participants experienced public stigma, self-stigma, and label avoidance. Analyses reveal that the stigma of suicide shares similarities with stereotypes of mental illness, but also includes some important differences. Attempt survivors may be subject to double stigma, which impedes recovery and access to care.