Surveys of GPs are essential to facilitate future planning and delivery of health services. However, recruitment of GPs into research has been disappointing with response rates declining over recent years. This study identified factors that facilitated or hampered GP recruitment in a recent survey of Australian GPs where a range of strategies were used to improve recruitment following poor initial responses. GP response rates for different stages of the survey were examined and compared with reasons GPs and leaders of university research networks cited for non-participation. Poor initial response rates were improved by including a questionnaire in the mail-out, changing the mail-out source from an unknown research team to locally known network leaders, approaching a group of GPs known to have research and training interests, and offering financial compensation. Response rates increased from below 1% for the first wave to 14.5% in the final wave. Using a known and trusted network of professionals to endorse the survey combined with an explicit compensation payment significantly enhanced GP response rates. To obtain response rates for surveys of GPs that are high enough to sustain external validity requires an approach that persuades GPs and their gatekeepers that it is worth their time to participate.

Findings highlight systemic barriers to participation for consumer and carer advocates as a whole and the influence of these barriers on the individual experiences of those engaged in advocacy and representation work. Participants also emphasised the need for leadership to overcome some of these obstacles and move towards genuine consumer and carer participation and reform. Findings are discussed in the context of power within mental health systems.

A large body of research has examined intervention methods designed to improve attitudes towards people with mental disorders, in particular education, contact and protest. After a short review of these interventions, this paper provides a brief introduction to a new intervention that involves group-based discussion to strengthen commitment to the aims of the mental health advocacy movement. Research to date demonstrates it produces significant and lasting positive change in attitudes and willingness to participate in future action to promote the aims. Ongoing research examines the required conditions for the intervention and explores its potential to develop a cooperative community in which more members of the community, professionals and people with mental disorders work together to achieve common goals in reducing stigma.

This research examines the role of aspirations for cooperative relations between people with mental disorders and other community members in influencing commitment to stigma-reducing practices and promoting positive social change. Two studies demonstrated that a measure of aspirations for a cooperative community is distinct from social and community identification measures and strongly predicts positive beliefs and behavioral intentions. Findings support the proposal that these aspirations reflect a shared ideology for members of an opinion-based group that support mental health advocacy. The findings provide evidence that the aspirations construct adds to knowledge about collective identities and offers a useful tool for designing stigma reduction and social-change strategies for the benefit of people with mental disorders.

This article explores the theoretical and practical considerations of developing cooperative communities to reduce the stigma of mental disorders and achieve meaningful structural and systemic change. A cooperative community is conceptualized as an alliance of people from differing backgrounds who work together to achieve a positive social change desired by all members of the community but not necessarily for the material benefit of all. In defining the social psychological processes involved in the development of a cooperative community—comprising (1) people with mental disorders, (2) members of the broader public, and (3) health professionals—we reconcile the evidence of disparate psychological theories of stigma and prejudice reduction, intergroup relations, identity formation and social change to show that techniques drawn from each of those theories are required to create positive change and effectively address the stigma of mental disorders. We then explore practical considerations for developing cooperative communities in the mental health sector and consider future directions for health and public policy in this area.