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Campaign appears to influence subjective experience of stigma
- Authors:
- SCHNEIDER Justine, BEELEY Chris, REPPER Julie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Mental Health, 20(1), 2011, pp.89-97.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- London
Between September 2007 and Mental Health Awareness Week in October 2009, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in England conducted an anti-stigma campaign. It hoped to reduce the general public’s stereotyped attitudes to mental health problems and mental health service users. The campaign's rationale was based on social contact theory, which holds that bringing together 2 groups can reduce inter-group hostility. This study evaluates the campaign's impact on removing barriers to service users’ employment, promoting recovery and social inclusion, reducing the incidence of discrimination, as well as dissipating stereotyped attitudes and self-stigma. Factor analysis of questionnaires returned by 243 service users revealed 3 key factors referring to service users’ perceptions of: public attitudes to mental health; service users’ relationships with staff; and other interpersonal relationships. Service users’ perceptions of public attitudes towards mental health were improved, suggesting a short term, successful outcome from the main thrust of the campaign. However, there was no significant effect on the other 2 factors. The authors conclude that certain aspects of stigma associated with mental health may be changed through targeted strategies and community-level interventions. But, there remains an intractable core of stigma experiences associated with interpersonal relationships with family and staff, discrimination and social interactions. Bullying, harassment and assault can occur. These hard core issues present the greatest challenge to future anti-stigma strategies.