Instruments for measuring perceived and experienced Mental Illness Stigma: A systematic review

Abstract

In order to investigate which instruments are most utilized when measuring perceived and experienced mental illness stigma (MIS) in adults, and some of the variables that may moderate or interfere in measured outcomes, 101 published empirical and peer-reviewed studies were systematically extracted from electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, EBSCO, Web of Science, and PsycINFO). The results revealed that MIS is commonly evaluated by five scales. When considering the most tested and reported associative effects, age, and symptoms' severity were identified as potentially intervening variables. Other variables, such as sex, diagnostic, and treatment regimen (inpatient/outpatient) were evaluated by a few studies and presented inconsistent results. These findings suggest that future studies should use well-established instruments in the literature to assess MIS, as well as to aim for the cross-cultural adaptation of instruments that evaluate MIS since no instruments presented in this review are validated to the Brazilian population.

The Social Determinants of Mental Health

“…Resulting discriminatory behaviors manifest across systems levels, including those of the provider, system, and patient. Four types of stigma have been addressed in the literature (Cardoso et al, 2020): Anticipated Experienced Perceived Internalized …”

“…The stigmas are shown in Table 2 and experienced by any member of the workforce rendering care, as readily as by patients. Each of the four stigmas has been associated with poor patient outcomes including delays in care provision, treatment adherence by patients, and both quality and quantity of the care and treatment (Cardoso et al, 2020). For example, when patients are unable to access timely evaluations for needed psychopharmacological medications, they are easily prone to risk of psychiatric escalation and emergencies.…”

“…The collective stereotyped views, beliefs, and prejudiced attitudes associated with stigma contribute to negative perspectives of patient populations who have overall health concerns, but especially those related to behavioral health. (Cardoso et al, 2020):…”