Evaluation of a brief anti-stigma campaign in Cambridge: do short-term campaigns work?

Abstract

BackgroundIn view of the high costs of mass-media campaigns, it is important to understand whether it is possible for a media campaign to have significant population effects over a short period of time. This paper explores this question specifically in reference to stigma and discrimination against people with mental health problems using the Time to Change Cambridge anti-stigma campaign as an example.Methods410 face-to-face interviews were performed pre, during and post campaign activity to assess campaign awareness and mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.ResultsAlthough campaign awareness was not sustained following campaign activity, significant and sustained shifts occurred for mental health-related knowledge items. Specifically, there was a 24% (p < 0.001) increase in persons agreeing with the statement: If a friend had a mental health problem, I know what advice to give them to get professional help, following the campaign. Additionally, for the statement: Medication can be an effective treatment for people with mental health problems, there was a 10% rise (p = 0.05) in the proportion of interviewees responding 'agree' or 'strongly agree' following the campaign. These changes, however, were not evident for attitudinal or behaviour related questions.ConclusionsAlthough these results only reflect the impact of one small scale campaign, these preliminary findings suggest several considerations for mass-media campaign development and evaluation strategies such as: (1) Aiming to influence outcomes pertaining to knowledge in the short term; (2) Planning realistic and targeted outcomes over the short, medium and long term during sustained campaigns; and (3) Monitoring indirect campaign effects such as social discourse or other social networking/contact in the evaluation.

A Theory-Based Intervention in Health Visiting Students in Order to Reduce Mental Illness Stigma: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…In this context, students' knowledge related to mental illness stigma-assessed with the MAKS scalewas rather high in both groups even at baseline measurement and increased significantly during assessments. This finding is in line with those derived from other studies, indicating that even a short duration comprehensive education based intervention may have an impact on participants' knowledge [34]. An increase of accurate knowledge, however, does not seem to lead to stigma reduction, since stigmatized attitudes and behavior often coexist with accurate knowledge on mental illness [26].…”

“…Although our study contributes to the research on this topic, it also points out the need of further research to explore the specific components as well as the features of effective antistigma intervention programs. [34]. However, it is not realistic to expect substantial changes in the individual level if barriers to higher levels is insurmountable, according to the ecological model [37,38].…”

Responses to Mental Health Stigma Questions: The Importance of Social Desirability and Data Collection Method

“…8 This allowed the evaluation team to pilot a questionnaire delivered by a market research agency to assess awareness of the campaign and its impact.…”

El estigma de los trastornos mentales en los estudiantes de enfermería

“…Otro estudio de intervención realizado en Cambridge mostró una mejora de los conocimientos, actitudes y comportamientos tras una campaña de formación 10 , aunque sus resultados fueron inferiores a los nuestros, sobre todo en la etapa posterior a la formación. Sin embargo, existen coincidencias en los resultados de la escala RIBS.…”