Changes in beliefs and attitudes toward people with depression and schizophrenia – results of a public campaign in Germany

Public attitudes toward depression and help-seeking: Impact of the OSPI-Europe depression awareness campaign in four European regions

“…Compared to the reach of previous and comparable awareness campaigns (e.g. 7.3% in a German sample (Makowski et al, 2016a)), this can be considered as remarkably high. With the overall reach of the general public being higher at wave 2 than at wave 1, the campaign was successful in raising attention to the topic.…”

“…Consequently, it is worthwhile to know whether they are effective, in particular in terms of behaviour change. Despite some evidence, the majority of campaigns resulted in only moderate improvements in knowledge of and attitudes toward depression and suicide (Dumesnil and Verger, 2009;Makowski et al, 2016b). While Jorm and colleagues found a positive impact on attitudes toward help seeking and treatment for the beyondblue campaign (Australia) (Jorm et al, 2005), in the majority of studies, the campaign did not produce a change in the tendency to seek professional help.…”

“…Numerous institutions, including the WHO, recommend education and public awareness campaigns aiming to counteract the stigma associated with mental illness, to prevent discrimination of people affected, to improve the mental health literacy of the public and to positively influence help-seeking behaviour (Dumesnil and Verger, 2009). Examples for such campaigns are: the Defeat Depression and the Changing Minds campaigns in the United Kingdom (Paykel et al, 1997;Crisp et al, 2005), the Community Awareness, the beyondblue and the Compass campaigns in Australia (Rosen et al, 2000;Jorm et al, 2005;Wright et al, 2006), the Like Minds, Like Mine campaign in New Zealand (Akroyd and Wyllie, 2003), the See Me campaign in Scotland (Braunholtz et al, 2004), as well as the Nuremberg Alliance Against Depression (Hegerl et al, 2003;Dietrich et al, 2010Dietrich et al, , 2014 and the recent Psychenet campaign in Germany (Makowski et al, 2016b). Most of these campaigns are rather expensive.…”

Health literacy in clinical‐high‐risk individuals for psychosis: A systematic mixed‐methods review

“…A range of promising initiatives have been launched during the last years, such as public media campaigns (Kohls et al, ; Makowski et al, ) or internet portals dedicated to mental health (Tlach et al, ). Evaluations of these initiatives showed mixed findings; to some extent, campaigns helped to increase knowledge and reduce stigma; however, it also proved difficult to substantially change deeply ingrained attitudes towards people with mental health problems (Kohls et al, ; Makowski et al, ). In terms of a systemic perspective on dealing with a CHR for psychosis, a focus should be on how to create a “HL environment” which allows individuals at risk to seek help without fearing stigma, discrimination and social sanctions.…”

50 Jahre psychiatrische Einstellungsforschung in Deutschland

“…Sie ergaben keine nennenswerten Veränderungen hinsichtlich Eigenschaftszuschreibungen, emotionalen Reaktionen und sozialer Distanz gegenüber schizophren und depressiv Erkrankten. Die Autoren zogen daraus den Schluss, dass mehr zielgerichtete Interventionen wohl besser geeignet seien, Einstellungsveränderungen herbeizuführen [189]. Schließlich sind noch 2 Aufklärungsprogramme zu nennen, deren Ergebnisse bislang noch nicht veröffentlicht worden sind.…”