Can Antistigma Campaigns Be Improved? A Test of the Impact of Biogenetic Vs Psychosocial Causal Explanations on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes to Schizophrenia

Abstract

Antistigma campaigns have been promoting a medical view of schizophrenia. Given the growing body of research finding negative associations between biogenetic (BG) causal attributions and stigmatizing attitudes, this approach must be reappraised. The present study investigates the impact of different psychoeducational interventions on the etiology of schizophrenia (BG and psychosocial [PS], vs a neutral condition) and on stigmatizing attitudes in medical (n = 60) and psychology students (n = 61). Information was presented via information brochures and a video presentation. Attitudes were assessed before and after the interventions on an explicit level using the stereotype questionnaire and the Social Distance Scale as well as on an implicit level, using the Implicit Association Test. Both educational interventions produced a significant decrease in several stereotype components, which was not the case in the neutral condition. The BG intervention decreased the attribution of blame in both groups. It also decreased the stereotype unpredictability/incompetence and social distance in the medical students but increased the negative outlook on prognosis in the psychology students. The PS intervention reduced the widespread stereotype of dangerousness as well as social distance in the group of medical students. While further research into antistigma interventions is necessary, the proposal for antistigma campaigns is to take a multidimensional and balanced approach, which is adapted to target groups and provides additional facts that challenge the myths maintaining stigma.

Psychological approaches to understanding and promoting recovery in psychosis and bipolar disorder: a mixed-methods approach

“…It is possible that this relationship, in turn, may be mediated by the appraisal of symptoms and an individual's explanatory framework or conceptualisation of illness. The finding regarding locus of control and insight are also compatible with research demonstrating that biological explanations of mental health problems tend to be associated with greater stigma and pessimism in comparison with psychosocial explanations in studies of both the general public [139][140][141] and in relation to internalised stigma in people with psychosis. 142 Overall, our findings are consistent with recent models of recovery that encompassed processes such as hope, re-establishment of identity, finding meaning in life and taking responsibility.…”

Can video interventions be used to effectively destigmatize mental illness among young people? A systematic review

“…Positive effects were observed at post-test on attitudes towards people with mental illness and towards help seeking but not on affective reactions and implicit attitudes measured by Implicit Association Test. Lincoln et al [60] supplemented a video recorded dialogue of a psychiatrist and a patient about living with schizophrenia with two types of leaflets; one with a psychosocial, and the second with a biological explanation of the disease. The first one had significant impact on reducing the stereotype of dangerousness and social distance in the group of medical students and it did not increase any of the stereotype components.…”

Desenvolvimento e Validação da Escala de Crenças sobre a Doença Mental

“…Embora existam escalas acerca da doença mental disponíveis na literatura, elas não tratam especifi camente das crenças sobre a sua etiologia, mas abordam outro aspecto relevante sobre este tema que são as atitudes frente à doença mental, tal qual a Community Attitudes Toward Mentally III (Gonçalves et al, 2008;Taylor & Dear, 1981), a Escala de Atitudes Frente ao Doente (Pasquali et al, 1987), ou a escala de Opiniões sobre a Doença Mental (Pedrão et al, 2005). Já aquelas desenvolvidas para avaliar especifi camente as crenças apresentam baixa consistência interna (Lincoln, Arens, Berger, & Rief, 2008), ou faltam evidências de sua validade de construto e consistência interna (Link, Phelan, Bresnahan, Stueve, & Pescosolido, 1999;Loureiro, Dias, & Aragão, 2008). Neste sentido, optou-se por construir uma nova escala que abarcasse o conteúdo socialmente compartilhado acerca das causas da natureza da saúde mental e apresentasse parâmetros satisfatórios de validade e precisão.…”